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International Journal
of
Learning, Teaching
And
Educational Research
p-ISSN:1694-2493
e-ISSN:1694-2116IJLTER.ORG
Vol.15 No.1
PUBLISHER
London Consulting Ltd
District of Flacq
Republic of Mauritius
www.ijlter.org
Chief Editor
Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de
Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
Editorial Board
Prof. Cecilia Junio Sabio
Prof. Judith Serah K. Achoka
Prof. Mojeed Kolawole Akinsola
Dr Jonathan Glazzard
Dr Marius Costel Esi
Dr Katarzyna Peoples
Dr Christopher David Thompson
Dr Arif Sikander
Dr Jelena Zascerinska
Dr Gabor Kiss
Dr Trish Julie Rooney
Dr Esteban Vázquez-Cano
Dr Barry Chametzky
Dr Giorgio Poletti
Dr Chi Man Tsui
Dr Alexander Franco
Dr Habil Beata Stachowiak
Dr Afsaneh Sharif
Dr Ronel Callaghan
Dr Haim Shaked
Dr Edith Uzoma Umeh
Dr Amel Thafer Alshehry
Dr Gail Dianna Caruth
Dr Menelaos Emmanouel Sarris
Dr Anabelie Villa Valdez
Dr Özcan Özyurt
Assistant Professor Dr Selma Kara
Associate Professor Dr Habila Elisha Zuya
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and
Educational Research
The International Journal of Learning, Teaching
and Educational Research is an open-access
journal which has been established for the dis-
semination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the
field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER
welcomes research articles from academics, ed-
ucators, teachers, trainers and other practition-
ers on all aspects of education to publish high
quality peer-reviewed papers. Papers for publi-
cation in the International Journal of Learning,
Teaching and Educational Research are selected
through precise peer-review to ensure quality,
originality, appropriateness, significance and
readability. Authors are solicited to contribute
to this journal by submitting articles that illus-
trate research results, projects, original surveys
and case studies that describe significant ad-
vances in the fields of education, training, e-
learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit pa-
pers to this journal through the ONLINE submis-
sion system. Submissions must be original and
should not have been published previously or
be under consideration for publication while
being evaluated by IJLTER.
VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 January 2016
Table of Contents
Funding Higher Education in Australia: Is it Time to Look at Income Share Agreement as an Alternative Model
to Income Contingent Loans? ...............................................................................................................................................1
Steven Holliday and Ergun Gide
Discipline Based Art Education as an Approach to Art Instruction: The Case of Standard Seven Curriculum in
Botswana................................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Dr Magdeline Chilalu Mannathoko
Inclusive Education and Challenges of Providing Classroom Support to Students with Blindness in a General
Education Classroom at a School in Botswana ................................................................................................................ 30
Joseph Habulezi, Odiretsemang Molao, Sandy Mphuting and Kebotlositswe Mark Kebotlositswe
Small-Group Discussion and the Development of Interpretive Strategies in Literature Classrooms: a Quasi-
Experimental Study with 9th - Grade Students ............................................................................................................... 42
Agapi Dalkou and Evangelia Frydaki
Experiences of School and Family Communications and Interactions Among Parents of Children with Reactive
Attachment Disorder............................................................................................................................................................ 66
Raol Taft, Candace Schlein and Crystal M. Ramsay
The Predictive Power of Reasoning Ability on Academic Achievement ...................................................................... 79
Mehraj A. Bhat
Critical Analysis of Embedded and Summative Feedback from Online Doctoral Instructors on Benchmark
Assessments .......................................................................................................................................................................... 89
Kelley Walters, PhD and Patricia Henry, PhD
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 1-13, January 2016
Funding Higher Education in Australia: Is it Time to
Look at Income Share Agreement as an Alternative
Model to Income Contingent Loans?
Steven Holliday
Central Queensland University, Australia
Ergun Gide
Central Queensland University, Australia
Abstract. Human Capital Contracts are an emerging alternative means
for financing the up-front investment cost of university students. This
method involves investors financing the development of a students’
human capital based on their expected future incomes and taking as
share of their future income for a defined period as a return on their
investment. In recent years such an approach has begun to emerge in the
United States in particular. In Australia student fees are funded through
an income contingent loan system however this system is struggling
with high debt levels and high proportional write offs. Would an
Income Share Agreement (ISA) program possibility be an alternative
scheme which may take pressure of the Australian Government funding
by transferring the risk to the private sector? Ideally such a scheme
would maintain the basic principles behind the current system, but
allow for private investors to predominantly fund the scheme.
Potentially principles from both financing systems may provide a
framework for a new innovative model into the future. This review
suggest that further research appears to be warranted as this alternative
scheme has potential to address some of the key Higher Education
funding concerns in Australia at this time.
Keywords: HECS; Human Capital; Funding; Higher Education; ISA;
“Income share agreements”
Introduction
Funding of higher education is vital for the achievement of the educational
aspirations of any nation. If the funding is not adequate, it is unlikely that the
desired results will be actualised.
The capital labour market is known for its limitations as the market has
difficulty pricing the work in progress value of individuals. According to Yu and
Salyards (2008) Capital Asset Pricing Models do not allow for the market to
adequately price human capital as a work in progress. An investment in an
individual’s higher education is an investment in a future asset, but there is no
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way to secure that investment. As Chapman (1997) pointed out “there is no
market for human slavery,” so how does an investor invest in a future
graduate’s expected income? Future income is uncertain, and there is no
collateral to fall back on or recover should the future income streams not
eventuate.
Friedman outlined the reasoning for his Human Capital Contract ideas as
follows:
“The counterpart for education would be to "buy" a share in an individual's earning
prospects: to advance him the funds needed to finance his training on condition that he
agrees to pay the lender a specified fraction of his future earnings. In this way, a lender
would get back more than his initial investment from relatively successful individuals,
which would compensate for the failure to recoup his original investment from the
unsuccessful” (Friedman, 1955, np.).
“On the other hand, if individuals sold 'stock' in themselves, i.e., obligated themselves
to pay a fixed proportion of future earnings, investors could 'diversify' their holdings
and balance capital appreciations against capital losses. The purchase of such 'stock‟
would be profitable so long as the expected return on investment in training exceeded the
market rate of interest”(Friedman & Kuznets, 1945, p.90).
Over the last 5 to 7 years there has been considerable interest in Human Capital
Contracts or Income Share Agreements (ISA’s) as they are sometimes known.
Contracts through organisations such as Pave, Upstart and Alumni have been
commenced in a Friedman style approach. This has also come to the attention of
regulators who have begun to consider guidelines for the operation of these
schemes (discussed further below).
Australia has a significantly different approach to the funding of higher
education (HE) to the United States, however these concepts should be explored
to further to examine whether they can be adopted successfully to the Australian
context and for the benefit of the public good.
Methodology
To further understand how these relatively new concepts can be applied to the
Australian Higher Education sector, a review of current literature has been
summarised below. The literature reviewed examine both contemporary
practices and current thinking both for arguments for and against this approach.
By looking at the recurrent themes arising from this literature, these concepts are
then considered with reference to our current higher education funding
arrangements in Australia and consideration is then made as to how these
concepts may be applied in that context.
Analysis and Results of Literature Review
a) What is a Human Capital Contract (HCC) and how does it work?
Palacios explained the concept and benefits of HCCs succinctly as follows:
“Under a human capital contract, a student receives funding in exchange for a
percentage of his or her income during a fixed period of time. Human capital contracts
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are equity-like instruments because the investor‟s return will depend on the earnings of
the student, not on a predefined interest rate. The effects of these arrangements are,
among others, less risk for the student, transfer of risk to a party that can manage it
better, increased information regarding the economic value of education, and increased
competition in the higher education market”(Palacios, 2002, p.1).
Another term used for these type of arrangements are “Income Share
Agreements”(ISA), this title focuses more on the shared arrangement of
investing in an individual’s future income, as those who share in the person’s
success should also be rewarded with a share of that success as a return on their
investment. The Wall Street Journal has described such agreements as
“individuals selling stock in themselves”(Belkin, 2015).
In the United States legislation has been introduced to begin the regulation of
such arrangements under the “Student Success Act” (US Congress CRS, 2014)
whereby student loans would be capped at 30 years and a maximum of 15% of
earnings. This legislation is currently seeking passage in respect of these
agreements (Griswold, 2014a; Supiano, 2014) . Another important aspect of this
legislation is that it is not regarded a debt instrument (US Congress CRS, 2014)
which has the benefit for the student in terms of future borrowings and provides
a level of security for the student.
Companies such as Upstart, Pave and Lumni in the United States are currently
providing such financing and the terms are usually based on extensive
algorithms to assess the potential risks and potential benefits of the individual
being financed (Griswold, 2014b; Nisen, 2015; Surowieki, 2013). The investor is
also encouraged to mentor and support the student, however the recent
legislation places a prohibition on investors coercing or forcing certain actions or
choices on the borrower (CRS, 2014).
The idea of advance funding by private investors for a stake in an individual’s
success is not new, for example the world champion boxer Muhammed Ali was
financed by investors in his early years. These investors paid for his training and
expenses in return for a share of his winnings (Surowieki, 2013). In the world of
publishing it is not unusual for a book company to advance a writer funds in
advance of the book being completed in anticipation of future reward
(Surowieki, 2013). Although these examples are similar to the concept discussed,
they are relatively unique situations which recognise rare talent.
The idea of income contingent loans are not new with such educational
financing occurring in many countries such as the U.S.A, U.K, Australia and
New Zealand but this financing is usually made by the government and not the
private sector (Chapman, 2006).
The benefits of an income share agreement was well put by Holt (2013), when
compared to private student loans which are common the United States.
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
“On a private student loan, my nominal monthly payment is fixed (sure, certainty is
nice) but my income could change or go away altogether (making certainty just a
monthly repetition of bad news). With an Income Share Agreement the converse is true:
I don‟t know what my nominal monthly payment will be over the entire term, or how
much I will pay overall, but I do know that I will always be able to afford it. Which
would you prefer? I‟ll take the certainty from an Income Share Agreement”(Holt, 2013,
np.).
Income Share Agreements are based similarly on the concepts surrounding
income contingent loans such as the Higher Education Contribution Scheme
HECS) in Australia, however they have a market approach. An insightful
comment on the new Income Share Agreements was made by Surowieki from
the New Yorker Magazine:
“Upstart may succeed or it may fail, but the principle behind it is unlikely to disappear.
This isn‟t entirely a benign development. Income-based plans make it easier for students
to repay their loans, but they also reinforce the idea that education funding is the
responsibility of the individual rather than of the state. Still, on their own terms, they‟re
a step forward. The old way of borrowing was predicated on a world in which the job
market was stable and everyone had a steady income. That world of work is changing.
The way we finance it needs to change, too” (Surowieki, 2013, np.).
b) Are income share agreements akin to a slavery model?
There are many commentators who view a Human Capital Contract or an
Income Share Agreement in respect of the funding of higher education and other
similar arrangements as a form of indentured service which is akin to a slavery
model (Previti, 2013). Whilst a common mental image associated with slavery
would involve chains and whips and harsh conditions, indentured slavery was
generally associated with debt and the exchange of human labour for a set
period of time (Oei, 2015).
The main objections centre on the availability of opt-out clauses over the course
of the agreement (Nerlove, 1975) and whether the lender was able to exercise a
level of control over the student that they had financed. The other considerations
are whether the conditions are too harsh or unreasonable and whether students
are being taken advantage of (Nerlove, 1975). These are reasonable concerns and
some of these aspects have been considered in recent legislation in the United
States, in particular the Student Success Act (CRS, 2014).
Some media commentators such as Kevin Roose from New York Magazine
express their social concerns as reflected below and this implies that there may
be an uneasiness toward financing where students pledge their future income:
“A year-old company begun by ex-Googlers that is giving young people in the post-crash
economy the chance to indenture themselves to patrons in the investor class. It does this
by making it easy for users to create human-capital contracts” (Roose, 2013, np.).
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
Oie & Ring (2015, p.714) believe that although there are no human property
rights under such agreements, such property rights may be approximated under
a financial agreement and that it is important to define some of the legal aspects
and definitions in these agreements. This need for legal clarity appears to be a
common theme in respect of ISA’s (Kelchen, 2015; Oei, 2015; Supiano, 2014).
Some considerations per Oei & Ring (2015 pp. 714-716) in respect of these
contracts which separate them from the notion of indentured servitude or
slavery are as follows :
(i) ISA’s do not force the borrower to work for them;
(ii) ISA’s are a voluntary agreement;
(iii) Work performed is compensated;
(iv) The type of work performed is not specified.
c) Availability of investors and the issue of bankruptcy or refusal to pay
According to the Wall Street Journal (Belkin, 2015), the financing company Pave
ran into problems in 2015 with carrying out this sort of arrangement, not due to
student demand for the loans, as demand for their Income Share Agreements
was exceptionally strong, the issue was the level of investor take up. Between
2012 and 2014 Pave received over 10,000 applications for funding, however they
could only provide for 70 students. Pave found that the lack of legal clarity made
it difficult for investors to commit to providing the capital funding (Belkin, 2015,
np.). As there are only a few commercial providers, this does represent a
potential difficulty for these types of funding arrangements. Whilst this is a
current problem, the moves towards legal clarification in the United States may
assist to improve investor confidence.
The other difficulty perceived by investors is surrounding bankruptcy, refusal to
pay and income hiding or even declaring their true intentions for study.
“An ISA structure gives students incentive to be less than honest about their
intentions -for example, saying they plan to become computer scientists but
knowing they will go into social work” (Supiano, 2014, np.).
The issue of income avoidance to avoid debt has been well discussed by various
commentators (McArdle, 2015; Nerlove, 1975; Oei & Ring, 2015; Supiano, 2014)
when considering this area of financing. It should be noted at this point that in
the Australian income contingent loan system, repayments are managed
through the taxation system and the data is collected from tax returns and
repayments made via tax deductions to cover the expected liability. This has
proven to be an effective method for recovery, however as Income Share
Agreements are generally in the private financing domain, such collection
options are not available. The inability to definitively determine the share to be
paid could be problematic and this increases the risk for potential investors.
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(d) What are the community benefit concerns of ISA’s and how are differing
sectors and needs addressed?
As a general rule, in a capitalist society the free market will balance supply and
demand to determine optimal pricing and provide a diversity of options in the
market place. According to Yu & Salyards (2008) human capital models
generally have difficulty in this arena as humans are less predictable than
machinery or inanimate processes and therefore it is difficult to price in Capital
Assets Pricing Models (CAPM).
Risk and return play an important consideration, as it does in a normal free
market model. In terms of financing future graduates, the market for engineers
and doctors, the risk and return factors will be completely different as will be the
amount financed. Investors may reasonably prefer to invest in graduate careers
which typically generate more income, than investing in graduates in
professions which are typically lower paid. The lower the expected income
profile, the higher the risk of default and the market will tend towards pricing
that risk in the form of higher interest charges.
Palacios, the founder of Pave believes a market based approach will send the
correct resourcing signal to the student:
“Because ISA investors earn a profit only when a student is successful, they offer
students better terms for programs that are expected to be of high value and have strong
incentives to support students both during school and after graduation. This process
gives students strong signals about which programs and fields are most likely to help
them be successful” Palacios, De Sorrento & Kelly (2014, p.1).
Whilst market forces may drive students to make good economic choices for
their future, there is a concern about the social good aspect of education and
whether this can be protected in a free market model. Whilst nurses and
teachers are vitally important to the community, they are not paid as well as
lawyers and accountants. Under a market based Income Share Agreement model
there would be a tendency for those being trained in careers which are lower
paid, to have their proportional repayments at a higher level. There is a sense of
unfairness in this as there would be an additional risk loading which further
compounds their lower salary profile and ability to pay. Widespread adoption
of such a model could in time affect the supply of students entering these fields.
(e) Yale University Tuition Postponement Option
This Human Capital Contract concept was partially applied to the Tuition
Postponement Option (TPO) introduced to Yale University. This program ran
from 1971 to 1978 and was jointly contributed to by Tobin (President of Yale )
and Milton Friedman (Harris, 2013). It was discontinued in 1978 when the
government introduced alternative funding options for such students.
The concept was generally regarded as the first application of income contingent
loans for education, however this was also similar to a Human Capital Contract.
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The TPO levied the tuition cost for a cohort of students as a debt to that group of
students. A percentage of income would be charged to all of the cohort until the
debt was cleared for the entire group. This resulted in members of the cohort
paying significant amounts due to the default of others (Harris, 2013). Those
defaulting or with poor earnings resulted in a delay in the finalisation of the
overall debt obligation, the debt burden of which fell onto the successful
students. This arrangement was seen by the students as inequitable and the
Alumni of Yale University more than 20 years later pressed for the closure of
this arrangement and the write off of remaining debts.
The idea that successful graduates would help offset the costs of the
unsuccessful graduates was part of the Friedman concept, but his idea was that
this was not to be funded by the university itself (Harris, 2013). Under the TPO
the debt was defined, attracted interest and the potential term of the contract
was extremely long, in this case 35 years before the debt would be written off,
whereas the Friedman concept had no defined debt value but was an income
contingent payment over a shorter defined period (Friedman & Kuznets, 1945).
Whilst this scheme was generally regarded as a failure, it was an experiment
which can be learned from. Despite the fact that this program had to be
discontinued due to the protests from Yale’s Alumni two decades later, the
concept of income contingent financing was later revived through the Higher
Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) in Australia and similar schemes in
other countries such as the UK and New Zealand (Chapman, 2006).
(f) H.R.4436 - Investing in Student Success Act of 2014
This Act is important to the topic of human capital contracts, or income share
agreements as it represented the first moves in the legal sphere in the area of
these types of agreements. This legal move provides an indication of the public
issues and the safeguards which were considered important. It provides what
appears to be a clear set of guidelines for the protection of students.
In terms of a legal definition for an income share agreement, the following was
submitted to US Congress as a definition of an Income Share Agreement:
“An agreement between an individual and any other person under which the individual
commits to pay a specified percentage of the individual's future income, for a specified
period of time, in exchange for payments to or on behalf of such individual for
postsecondary education, workforce development, or other purposes”(CRS, 2014, np.).
The specific areas which were placed as guidelines can be summarized as
follows (CRS, 2014):
(i) Agreements must specify the percentage of future income agreed to;
(ii) The first $10,000 of any year is exempt (indexed each year for inflation);
(iii) It must specify what is included as future income;
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
(iv) It must specify a maximum term and the act proposed a maximum period of
360 months not including any months where the borrower’s income was
below the minimum;
(v) No more than 15% of a person’s income should be obligated under the
agreement;
(vi) It should also specify the arrangements for early termination of the
agreement;
(vii) Prohibits the lender to place controls over the borrowers’ actions;
(viii) The agreement must clearly indicate that this is not a debt instrument.
(g) Review of the current Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS-
HELP) in Australia
The HECS system was regarded as an innovative solution and it has been in
operation since 1989 in Australia (Harris, 2013). There are many important
principles which underpin this system, and these need to be considered in
considering any alternative approaches. One of the important aspects of the
HECS program was to re-introduce private contributions from students, whilst
at the same time allowing access to university for poor but talented students
(Chapman, 1996). In 2005 as part of the Higher Education Support Act 2003, this
scheme which relates to students under Commonwealth Supported Places was
renamed as the Higher Education Loans Program (HELP) and has now become
known as HECS-HELP (Parliament of Australia, 2014). Some of the main
principles of HECS-HELP are as follows:
(i) Income Contingent financing lowers financial barriers to entry for students
who do not have access to funds for higher education, particularly for poor
but talented students (Chapman, 1997, p.741).
(ii) Income Contingent financing provides a level of insurance for the student,
should their career path be affected by unforeseen circumstances and their
income not be what was expected, there is no requirement for contributions
until they reach the average wage as was per the original scheme (Birch,
2008; Chapman, 1996, 1997).
(iii) Income contingent financing provides for students to still have capacity to
have future borrowing capacity by only requiring repayments when above
average income is earned (Chapman, 1997). Another important aspect is that
repayment is payable on death or out of an estate, nor is it payable upon
bankruptcy, it remains only payable on the student paying a future portion
of their income after they reach a minimum wage level. These factors allow
young graduates to be eligible to apply for finance. Concerns were raised
early in the scheme that the education loans would delay students in starting
families due to the financial burden and restricted borrowing capacity. These
concerns raised by Davis (2005), were refuted by a comprehensive analysis in
an article (Yu, Kippen & Chapman, 2007, pp.73-90).
(iv) As Chapman pointed out:
“HECS offers a form of „default insurance', such that the former student does not
have to bear the costs of reneging on their debt as a result of periods of low future
incomes. This is quite different from a mortgage-style loan, in which the costs of
defaulting may be very high in terms of being locked out of other capital markets
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(most notably for housing) through damage to a person's credit reputation”
(Chapman, 1997, p.742).
(v) Alternative schemes are available for upfront payment and subsidies are
provided to reward and encourage that option.
(h) How are private fee charges determined in Australia?
The Australian undergraduate commonwealth funded places have two
components which are determined by the field of education (FOE). The
groupings of the fields of education determines the amount of government
funding which is provided to the university for that student, and the maximum
amount which the government will finance as a student contribution, which the
government then manages.
For example, based on 2015 rates, a student studying to be a teacher will have a
government contribution of $10,026 which will be paid to their university, and
the university can set a fee for the student contribution to a maximum of $6152.
The Government also pays the student contribution to the university and
manages the arrangements for repayment. It should be noted here that nearly all
universities in practice apply the full maximum student contribution.
In contrast a law student has a government contribution of $1961 and a
maximum student contribution of $10,266 which shows a more inverse
relationship between the private and government contributions. As an
additional contrast, the high cost courses have a different variation again e.g.
Engineering, and these relationships are shown in the table below.
Table 1: Commonwealth Grants Scheme (CGS) contributions 2015 –comparison table
for Law, Education and Engineering
Subject field
Commonwealth
Contribution
Maximum
Student
Contribution
Total
Resourcing
Percentage
Student
Contribution
Education $10,026 $6,152 $16,178 38%
Law $1,961 $10,266 $12,227 84%
Engineering $8768 $16,850 $25,618 66%
Source: Total resourcing for a Commonwealth supported place by discipline ‐
2015 (Australian Government, 2015).
Whilst the various student contribution rates are determined by the government
as part of political negotiation, perceived needs and national priorities, there is a
nexus between estimated future incomes and the amounts that students are
expected to contribute. Generally, lawyers and doctors earn much more than
teachers and this is reflected in the higher contributions for those fields of
education. In addition, the total resourcing amounts also reflect the relative costs
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associated with the delivery of programs, therefore law which is more classroom
based is less resourced than engineering which has higher costs in terms of
laboratories, internships and equipment and supplies.
Whilst it is difficult to find the guidelines for determining the basis of
contributions, the basis was described by Duckett around the time of the Nelson
review as:
“They incorporate the same mix of policy considerations: cost of courses and perceived
private returns to education” (Duckett, 2004, p.218).
This aspect of the Australian funding arrangements is particularly relevant to
this discussion as the level of contribution has a proportional relationship to
expected graduate salaries, therefore the finance risk is reduced for those on
lower anticipated career salaries, but reducing the amount that needs to be
financed by those students.
Discussion: Would an ISA arrangement work in Australia?
The Australian HECS-HELP system is managed by the Australian Government
and is not a private market based solution. The Australian Government as the
financer of the student contributions bears the risks of unrecovered debt and this
has been rising in the last few years and the level of write off is a concern for the
government. According the Grattan Institute, the Australian Government
finances around $6b each year in loans and it is expected that around $113m will
be uncollectable by 2017 with approximately 17% which is considered to be
doubtful debts, in other words they do not expect to obtain full recovery
(Norton, 2014, p.1).
Graduates are unlikely to move away from these current arrangements as the
HECS-HELP system provides a convenient and low risk method of financing in
respect of the fees those students must contribute towards their higher
education. If the current ICL arrangements remained unchanged, there would be
little incentive to move away from this government based program, unless there
was a viable alternative that was perceived to more advantageous.
In the United States the ISA’s have in recent years gained interest due to the
financing gaps in the US system as the government loans are not accessible to
many and there are other perceived shortfalls and inequities (Palacios, De
Sorrento & Kelly, 2014).
Income Share Agreements to date have not been part of recent reform
discussions in Australia, however with the new interest in this style of financing
for education in the United States, it may be useful to at least consider the merits
of ICA’S and how these could be applied to meet Australia’s needs. Australia
would particularly benefit from this particularly if the funding burden and risk
can be moved to the private sector. An increase in funding by private equity
could potentially free up government funds for investment and this could
potentially lead to increased development in the higher education sector.
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Conclusion
Income Share Agreements are a form of Income Contingent loans and they have
many of the same benefits in terms of providing access, lowering barrier to entry
to university, allowing the student to pay when they can afford to make
payments and so on.
The added benefit is these Share Agreements have the potential to move the
funding burden away from the Government or the university and into the
private sector, which is a significant outcome if achievable as it has the potential
to free up funds for improvements in the sector.
The main difference is that some successful graduates will pay more than they
would under the current HECS-HELP system in Australia, but this is offset by
the fact those less successful could also pay less, but on balance students should
be successful as a result of their higher education in terms of graduate outcomes
and salaries and these benefits can provide the return on investment to lenders.
Another key difference is the defined period of the ISA, the current HECS-HELP
arrangements continue until the debt is cleared and will index according to
inflation to maintain the real value of the outstanding debt. By comparison an
ICA potentially makes personal financial planning easier due to the defined
nature of the financial arrangement (lessens uncertainties and therefore risk).
There are many factors to consider, particularly in the area of legal guidelines
and protection of both investors and students, but some of this ground work is
already being established in the United States. If recovery of ISA’s and income
determination for repayments was tackled through the taxation system in the
same way the current HECS-HELP system works, this would lessen some of the
investor concerns, however as this is a private market method of funding, a way
forward would need to be negotiated. Income Share Agreements are relatively
new, however further research into how this approach could be adopted in the
Australian context may prove to be worthwhile, particularly if it could provide
an innovative approach to Australia’s higher education funding systems.
It should also be noted at this point that there is an element of income
contingency in the student contributions in Australia. The level of contribution
by the students (currently set as maximums for universities to charge) is
reflective of expected graduate salaries, lawyers, doctors and accountants are
expected to contribute proportionally more than nurses or teachers. One overall
solution to funding may be to look at removing these notional contribution
proportions and moving to a form of income contingent loans based solely on
graduate income and providing the university funding proportion on more of a
standardised cost proportion or other measure which would be independent of
expected graduate ability to pay. From a funding management perspective, this
would allow proper consideration of both funding components (government
contributions and student contributions) rather than having these as a mix of
different concepts i.e. direct cost, ability to pay and national priorities. These
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sorts of ideas as well as the legal frameworks behind such Income Share
Agreements may be well worth further research. It is possible that within those
ideas an improved process will be generated for the funding of education in
Australia.
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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 14-29, January 2016
Discipline Based Art Education as an Approach
to Art Instruction: The Case of Standard Seven
Curriculum in Botswana
Dr Magdeline Chilalu Mannathoko
University of Botswana
Gaborone, Botswana
Abstract. There are various curricula models in Art and Design, some of
which are Critical Studies, Arts Propel and Discipline Based Art
Education (DBAE). While these models theoretically have different foci,
they are essentially similar in the critical content areas from which they
draw their disciplinary knowledge and skills. These are listed under the
DBAE as Art History, Art Criticism, Production and Aesthetics. The four
disciplinary content areas are critical in the development of fundamental
knowledge and skills in Art and Design. Production entails that students
apply the art elements and principles of design while at the same time
drawing a critical eye from aesthetics. Students explore a variety of
media in different ways. They also ask philosophical questions in the
process as well as drawing ideas from historical contexts. These are the
four things that students do with art. The purpose of this paper is to find
out the extent to which the Art and Design curriculum in Botswana is
reflective of the fundamental principles of DBAE which has pervaded
most art curricula in different countries.
Content analysis was done on the existing syllabus and other policy
documents that inform the curriculum to identify overlaps. The study
was an Action Research and it involved sixty-six level three Art
specialists in-service student-teachers from the University of Botswana
who worked in groups to share their Art teaching experiences in relation
to DBAE. They later identified and categorised Art objectives stipulated
in the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) syllabus according to
DBAE disciplines. When presenting their findings, Student-teachers
concluded that Art Production and Art Criticism were effectively
addressed during curriculum development compared to the other two
disciplines. Nevertheless, they argued that objectives which required
learners to explore colour schemes covered „Aesthetics‟ and the ones
seeking for explanation of Visual forms can address „Art History‟ As a
result, the study recommends that an evaluation be done to Art
education in the CAPA to include the components of DBAE. Teacher-
training institutions also need to prepare students-teachers to
incorporate DBAE components in their instruction.
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Key Words:
Creative and Performing Arts; Art Education; Attainment Targets; Objectives;
Art and Design curricula models.
Introduction
Art as a discipline was recently introduced in Botswana schools. It was
introduced at junior secondary school (1992) earlier than in lower primary
schools (in 2002). To me this is an anomaly as there is likely to be unsequential
development of the subject. At upper primary art was introduced in 2005.
Before the introduction of a curricula syllabus called Creative and Performing
Arts (CAPA), art in Botswana primary schools was taught without a guideline,
therefore, it was optional (Mannathoko, 2015). Among some of major
innovations in the Botswana school curriculum was the suggestion to introduce
practical subjects among them art and design, art and craft then (Report of the
National Commission on Education, 1993) (RNCE). This ideas was subsequently
adopted in 1994 under the Revised National Policy on Education (1994) and this
gave birth to the CAPA syllabus in 2002 (Phuthego, 2007). The main aim for the
introduction of practical subjects was to develop technological thinking and
manipulative skills in learners. Such appreciation would lay the foundation for
national development at an early stage. CAPA drew its content from disciplines
that include home economics, art and craft, business studies, design technology,
dance and drama and physical education (Curriculum Development and
Evaluation Unit, 2002).
The grouping of these subjects under the umbrella CAPA was recommended by
the American agency called „Cream Wright‟ which was assigned by the Ministry
of Education, Skills and Development to review the primary school curriculum
(Phibion, 2006). To account for this combination, the agency explained that
CAPA subjects were put together to facilitate project teaching and integration
(Wright, 1995). Moreover, the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit
(2002, 2005) has stipulated in the CAPA syllabus, Attainment Targets, which
guide teachers on what is expected of pupils at the end of each level of learning
(lower and upper primary). These Attainment Targets are categorised into four
aspects for lower primary: Knowledge and Understanding, Manipulative Skills,
Creativity and Attitudes. For Upper Primary skills were increased by adding the
aspect of „Communication‟ and hence making them five in this level. The
Attainment Targets are the basis upon which the Botswana Examination Council
(BEC) will base their examination questions on, to diagnose the pupils‟ ability at
the end of each of the two levels. The Department further generated the general
and specific objectives which define the content to be delivered at each level of
learning. “The CAPA syllabus‟ main aims, are to help students develop
creativity skills; problem solving aptitudes, critical thinking competencies,
aesthetic recognition and appreciation, psychomotor dexterity along with
positive attitudes towards practical work and productivity” as cited by the
Curriculum and Evaluation Department of 2005.
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Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) approach being the most recommended
mode of teaching and learning Art internationally, is not mentioned in the
CAPA syllabus and hence the need to investigate how teachers addressed it at
both lesson planning and lesson presentation stages. The methodology enhances
the interdisciplinary nature of the four DBAE disciplines (art production, art
criticism, aesthetics, art history) discussed at length in the literature review
section. DBAE framework has the greatest aim of teaching art in its social,
cultural and historical context and it combines practical work with theoretical
and contextual studies (Hayes, 2015). The four disciplines are aimed at
enhancement of in-depth knowledge of visual arts among art students.
Discipline-Based Art Education has been viewed by many art educationists to be
the most effective approach in the teaching and learning of art. The
methodology integrates the disciplines of aesthetics, production, art history and
art criticism into a coherent body of knowledge. This study, therefore, examined
the extent to which art education within the CAPA syllabus addressed DBAE
component. The study was a result of a recommendation in one of my studies
which examined education documents (Revised National Policy for Education,
Basic Education and Primary Education programmes) to find out the extent to
which they promoted DBAE. The study recommendation suggested a further
research „to investigate the extent to which teachers addressed DBAE disciplines
during instruction‟. Two major questions guiding this study can be put forward
as:
 How do the art education topics and objectives address DBAE
framework?
 To what extent do strategies and methodologies in art address DBAE
approach?
Literature Review
This section discusses literature related to the study with more focus on
Discipline-Based Art Education framework; since all data was based on this
approach. DBAE is a curricula model that draws its content from the four
disciplines which will be discussed later in this section. It was designed by the
Paul Getty Trust in America in the early 1980s to support a diminished emphasis
on studio instruction and encouraged education across four aforementioned
disciplines within the arts (Greer, 1993). Following its footing in 1982, the Getty
Education Institute for the Arts based in America, recommended DBAE as an
effective approach to teaching art, arguing that it helps learners experience the
visual arts in a variety of ways. According to Greer (1993) the institution‟s
recommendation was an adoption of the ideas of art educators who had been
advocating a more integrative methodology that draws its knowledge and skills
competences from the four disciplines which follows: The first discipline,
production; is simply, how to create an artwork. It involves creative use of tools
and art equipment in innovative ways. It results in tangible studio products that
demonstrate critical thinking and imagination processes and art students get
stimulated as they explore or manipulate art media (Greene, 2014).
Art production is a critical component in any art programme. It is a domain that
promotes kinaesthetic development as students express themselves in some
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visual medium. Students are encouraged to explore a variety of media in the
process of production. They learn the peculiarities of different media. They are
also exposed to multi-media studies in which they learn how to combine media
in expressive ways. Students become masters of different media. According to
Greene (2014) studio production gives students the opportunity to express
themselves and show their individuality.
Another domain, art criticism, is equally important. In simple terms art criticism
is „talking about art‟. It involves discussing, evaluating, interpreting and
analysing various aspects of art such as style, media and the use of art elements
and principles of design (Day and Hurwitz, 2012). Students carry out critiques
both verbal and in written form which heighten their understanding of the art
forms and their social context. As recommended by Feldman (1994) art criticism
follows four chronological steps, namely, description, analysis, interpretation
and judgement. Description involves describing what you see in the artwork
including the „credit line‟ information. In the second step, students analyse how
visual art elements such as colour, texture, shape are organised into principles of
design such as balance, variety, harmony, rhythm and proportion (Ragans,
2000). Talking about art elements and principles of design develops students
understanding of art as a means of visual communication (Lampert, 2006). Art
Criticism uses several areas of Bloom‟s Taxonomy but also involves higher levels
of thinking. The third step, interpretation focuses on the diagnosis of the
artwork, to get its meaning while the last step, judgement, allows the viewers to
examine whether the artwork is successful or not, looking at how the art
elements were used. It also allows for personal feelings about an artwork, that is
whether one likes or dislikes the piece of work, with justification to their choices.
Eskine and Kozbelt (2015) view this stage as the critical judgement of specific
artworks which allows viewers to look within themselves and ask why they like
or dislike the piece of artwork. Choices can vary from one person to another
since it allows for individual opinions about the artifact. Thus, involving
children in this step will develop their critical, problem solving, self-reliant, self-
esteem and creativity skills (Schabmann et al, 2015).
Art History is described as the examination of the artists and art‟s contribution
to the societies and cultures. Studying art history helps students to understand
how visual communication has evolved overtime (Dash, 2006). It includes the
authors of the works and information about the work itself. Students get to
understand the artists themselves and the environment in which they
functioned, the historical periods and unfolding of events in time and space. We
get to understand the evolution of artistic styles and factors that influenced them
(Bamford, 2006). Thus, art work provides a visual record of the socio-cultural
changes over time, thus insights into the history of a people. It further provides
valuable insights and information about the present. Art and culture cannot be
separated from one another because both relates to the actions and continuation
of a people (Mannathoko, 2013). As a result, art students need to study art
history so that they get to understand how the artists understood their media,
means of expression as well as the philosophical underpinning their practices.
This leads to a better understanding of current practices which ideally are based
on the history and how art evolved through time (Merwe, 2007). This kind of
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methodology enables students to relate the past and the present and put their art
and understanding of art in context and comparison.
Art educationists have proven that art history relates to social studies as it helps
us examine historical events through an artist‟s eyes. The discipline answers the
following questions: Why was the artwork created? How was it used? and What
was its purpose? Aesthetics on the other hand, deals with philosophical
questions, questions that address the nature of art and the beauty of phenomena.
It interrogates the notion of beauty and its relativity. It addresses the questions
on our judgement of art, whether good or bad (Day and Hurwitz, 2012). We all
react emotionally to artworks. The work of art can upset or excite us. Thus, our
values, experiences and thoughts of beauty influence what we think about the
art object. There are various activities that we can do with students that
challenge their understanding of the aesthetic domain. They can be asked to
define the subject and its nature. They should be asked to interrogate its nature
and epistemological origins. They learn to differentiate art from what is not art.
They identify art that belongs to the canon and why others cannot be similarly
canonised. Historicised works of art are identified and studied in detail. In their
philosophical inquiry, students make reference to socio-cultural factors that have
an influence on art production. They examine beliefs and values that influence
production and broaden their conceptual grasp of the nature of artistic
expression. A critical dimension of aesthetics is that it enables students to
appreciate art for its own sake without making reference to specific cultural
performances as models of good aesthetics. It therefore removes those cultural
barriers and limitations that could hinder them from an informed appreciation
of art from the other.
Through art criticism students develop the ability to justify their opinions and
positions. Moreover, Aesthetics helps students realise what kind of art pleases
most people. This is also helpful for them when decorating their homes and
choosing clothes. Furthermore, critical skills are used in Aesthetics because
questions such as; why one feels that way or why you came to a specific
conclusion may arise. As a result, Aesthetics sometimes go hand-in-hand with
Art Criticism. A number of people fail to differentiate aesthetics from art
criticism. However both are important in the development of critical and
reflective thinking. It is important to note that there is no one answer to a given
question. Diverse answers are all important. What is important is the effort to
work towards a solution. Such aesthetic interrogation is what is critical in the
two disciplines of aesthetics and art criticism. To address or to find solution for
the provided question is extremely significant. Thus, DBAE approach is
designed to insure that all learners obtain an in-depth study of art (Dhillon,
2006). This framework has been proven through time and research therefore, it
should be seriously considered by all the art teachers. Agosto (1993) in Dobbs
(1993) shares conclusions drawn from various researchers on DBAE
implementation. She says results revealed that students who approach their art
from the DBAE are in a position to construct their own personalised knowledge
as opposed to universalised knowledge. Their studio art is better informed and
quality is generally better. They have a broader perspective in their approach to
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art including their art and language comprehension and vocabularies which are
significantly enhanced. As a result, having an in-depth understanding of art
entails heightened abilities and capabilities to think critically, create, to write, to
evaluate and value art products.
Research Methodology
The paper aimed at examining the extent to which Botswana primary school art
curriculum and its pedagogical instruction addressed DBAE approach which is
believed by most art educationists in the Western countries to be the most
effective method of teaching and learning art. The study adopted a type of
education research called „Action Research‟. The method is sometimes called
„participatory action research‟ since it includes findings by performing actions.
The method concentrates on a person carrying out findings with other people to
reach a conclusion. Mills (2014) states that Action research in education is about
investigating one‟s own practice in educational set ups. It involves gathering
data on their own teaching and students learning in their particular contexts.
This is linked to Dewey‟s, Harbermas‟ and Schon‟s reflective practice critical in
the generation of self-knowledge. One can also investigate their operational
environments from a broader perspective such as the school environment,
resources and other factors that have a bearing on students learning outcomes
and performances. The aim is to improve practice by the individual or
participants in the given context.
According to Brundrett and Rhodes (2014) the purpose of action research is to
develop teacher researchers who are able to creatively solve everyday problems
encountered in the school context for the improvement of their own teaching
and students learning, improve curriculum and adapt instructional or
assessment strategies. The study adopted the „Focus group‟ method of interview
under qualitative research design. The decision to use focus group strategy was
prompted by Stewart and Shamdasani‟s (1990) ideas of focus group process
cited in Pickard (2007, p. 220). The aforementioned authors suggest the
following situations in which focus group discussions can be used: obtaining
general background information about a topic of interest; generating research
hypotheses that can be submitted to further research and testing using more
quantitative approaches; stimulating new ideas and creative concepts;
diagnosing the potential for problems with a new program, service or product;
generating impressions of products, programs, services institutions, or other
products of interest; learning how respondents talk about a phenomenon of
interest which may facilitate quantitative research tools and interpreting
previously obtained qualitative results. Adopting and adapting Stewart and
Shamdasani‟s (1990) advice, data was collected through engagement of
participants in groups, to examine the CAPA syllabus specifically, the art
component, in relation to DBAE framework. Participants were third-year in-
service student-teachers who were pursuing their primary education degree in
the University of Botswana as art education specialised. Thus, the study covered
what was practised in rural and urban learning contexts of Botswana.
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The geographical areas were sampled that way because students came from
various regions of the country under different cultural context and hence a good
representation of the study. I found it necessary to use this diverse and
representative sample so as to adequately cater for diverse contexts from which
the learners came from and teacher contexts articulating the CAPA curriculum
and methodology. Such an approach is emphasised by Parlett and Hamilton
(1972). The study was also informed by Paul Getty Trust‟s theory of Discipline
Based Art Education (DBAE) which advocated for encompassing the four
disciplinary categories for the purposes of teaching art. DBAE was introduced in
America in the early 1980s. According to Phung and Fendler, (2015) the
approach was designed to support a diminished emphasis on studio teaching
and encouraged education across the four aforementioned art disciplines. In-
service students-teachers from primary schools were found to be the most
appropriate target group as they were practicing teachers who were
implementers of the CAPA curriculum. Fifty-one (77%) of the participants held
Diploma in Education as art specialists while fifteen (23%) were art education
non-specialists teachers when pursuing diploma. The study focused on standard
seven class as it is the highest level of learning in primary school therefore,
having mature students who qualifies to a comprehensive art education
advocated by DBAE approach. They were assigned to first identify the objectives
which addressed DBAE approach and later categorise the selected objectives
according to specific DBAE components believed to be relating to them.
In addition, students were required to suggest activities which could be
developed during planning and teaching processes to cater for the omitted
DBAE disciplines. Prior to engaging students in the examination of the art
education curriculum, they were engaged in an activity to share their
experiences on how they implemented art modules within the CAPA syllabus. I
called this group „Pre-Focus Group‟. Groups later presented their consolidated
results which showed no evidence of having knowledge of DBAE framework.
This prompted a formal class to introduce students to DBAE approach and later
engaged them in a second group activity which I named „Post- Focus Group‟. At
this stage, the case study student-teachers were required to apply what they
learnt and hence check their understanding since they were in-service teachers
who were expected to implement what they learnt to promote DBAE and hence
making art education rich in all aspects of learning. The next stage involved
group presentations of their „Post-Focus Group‟ findings and opinions to
colleagues in class which led to common agreement as to which objectives in the
curriculum addressed specific DBAE disciplines.
Data was then consolidated so as to be disseminated to other academicians who
may use information for development of art education in their institutions. The
focus-group strategies followed to collect data were found to be very
appropriate for this type of study as per Packard‟s (2007) advice that “focus
group can be used at any point in the research design. During the early stages of
an investigation focus groups can allow you to explore a topic, to establish just
what the salient issues surrounding the topic are and what requires further
investigation. Using „open‟ focus groups allows your research participants to
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talk about the things that they feel are significant” (p. 220). As a result, the focus
group method provided a useful guide to further studies as the results from the
„Pre-Focus group prompted the next step which is teaching DBAE to student-
teachers and assign them to examine the CAPA syllabus in relation to DBAE.
The themes for discussion are centered around teacher competences in handling
the DBAE curriculum and student learning activities in this curriculum model.
Results
In this section I present the results in two main categories as data from student-
teachers is in two folds: „Pre-Focus Groups‟ where participants shared their
teaching in art and „Post- Focus Groups‟ where they examined the art education
modules in relation to DBAE framework.
Pre-Focus Groups: Sharing Experiences in the Teaching of Art
This section addresses the second research question which sought to find out the
extent to which strategies and methodologies used in Botswana primary schools
infuse aspects of DBAE as a curricula model. As aforementioned, student-
teachers were engaged in „Pre-Focus Groups‟ to share their experiences of how
they planned and taught art as a subject. This was after realising that the focus of
the art education objectives was on „art production‟ and a bit of the other three,
art history being the least covered after the study which prompted this research.
This was to find out the extent to which DBAE approach was catered for during
the implementation of the art curriculum. In terms of planning, participants said
schemes of work were done at regional level. According to responses, all regions
had teachers selected from schools to work together under the supervision of the
Education Officers. They were tasked with coming up with a common scheme of
work which could be used by all schools in a region for uniformity, since they
had common mid-examinations. This according to the case study student-
teachers involved just listing topics for a term so as to have common
arrangement. They explained with concern that, not all teachers who were
involved had knowledge of the subject and in some instances the whole team
lacked knowledge and skills in all the CAPA subjects. When responding to
approaches and methods of teaching art, all participants concurred that they
followed what was dictated by the specific objectives. For example, if the
objective required pupils to list art elements, they did exactly that since the
examination questions were guided by the objectives.
To check student- teachers‟ effort in making art education comprehensive, a
guiding question was framed in the context of how student teachers made sure
their teaching addressed the CAPA attainment targets and how they
incorporated DBAE model into their teaching. All participants showed no
knowledge of the two concepts „attainment targets‟ and „DBAE‟ approach
although the CAPA syllabus stipulated „attainment targets‟ which informed the
designed objectives for each discipline listed under CAPA subject. Feedback
from student-teachers therefore, shows the need to help teachers understand the
nature of art as a subject and introduce them to effective approaches to teaching
and learning art, thus, equipping them with necessary skills and knowledge
which can help produce pupils with comprehensive art education. Mannathoko
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(2009) is of the view that if well implemented, DBAE strategy has the greatest
aim of teaching art in its social, cultural, and historical context and it combines
practical work with theoretical and contextual studies. She builds on the premise
that art is best approached from an interdisciplinary/integrative mode of fusing
the four DBAE disciplines, namely, art history, art criticism, art production and
aesthetics. This approach gives a holistic means of learning as opposed to the
fragmented and segmented approach. This philosophy of art according to
Walling (2000) came as a follow up of Bruner‟s (1960) notion of giving students
an understanding of the fundamental structure of art. The good thing about the
strategy offered by DBAE to teach the arts using an integrated disciplines
approach is that, it does not only change what most art teachers teach but also
alters the view of the nature and value of art education. Having knowledge in
DBAE therefore, could assist teachers to identify gaps in the art curriculum and
come up with activities to biff the content. Thus, student-teachers were
introduced to the model of DBAE after realising their lack of knowledge in the
area. To check their understanding and preparing them for incorporation of the
approach when going back to schools, students were later tasked to examine the
CAPA syllabus specifically standard seven art education section in relation to
DBAE. They were to identify objectives addressing DBAE disciplines and
categorise them as shown in table 2 in the next section.
Post-Focus Groups: Examination of the Art Education Objectives within the
CAPA syllabus in relation to DBAE
The task under this theme was also designed to respond to the first research
question which was to investigate the extent to which upper primary art
education objectives addressed DBAE. As aforementioned, student-teachers
were tasked to examine the art education aspect of CAPA to identify objectives
addressing DBAE components and categorise them as shown in table 1. In
addition, students were required to suggest activities which pupils could be
engaged in to close the identified gaps. Some of the suggestions were an
extension of existing objectives while some were newly designed to cater for
omitted disciples. I have extracted standard seven Art education general
objectives listed in the CAPA syllabus and categorised them according to the
DBAE disciplines they address. Thereafter, specific objectives designed by the
Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit (2005) which are stipulated in the
CAPA syllabus were arranged according to the DBAE disciplines that they
match and inserted in table 1. The general objectives as per the Curriculum
Development and Evaluation Unit (2005) state that at the end of standard seven,
learners should be able to: use art elements and principles in drawing (Art
Production); develop skills and techniques of colour schemes (Art production);
apply skills and techniques in batik making (Art production); apply skills and
techniques in ornament making (Art production); develop skills and techniques
in sculpture making by carving (Art production) and develop skills and
techniques of sculpture making by construction (Art production).
These results reveal that standard seven art education has six general objectives
which are all advocating „art production‟ discipline. There is no evidence of
emphasis on the other three disciplines namely; criticism, art history and
aesthetics.
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Table 1: Categories of Standard 7 Art Education Specific Objectives (from 2005 CAPA
syllabus)
according to DBAE
Topic Art Criticism Art History Art Production Aesthetics
Drawing (Art
elements &
principles)
-Analyse art
elements &
principles in a
given artwork.
.
N/A - Explore the use of
art elements &
principles in
drawing.
-Create a
composition using
art elements &
principles.
-Analyse art
elements &
principles in a
given artwork. *
- Explore the use
of art elements &
principles in
drawing. *
Painting
(Colour
schemes)
-Recognise the
use of colour
schemes in an
artwork. *
N/A - Explore with
colour schemes in
painting.
-Create a
composition using a
chosen colour
scheme.
-Recognise the use
of colour schemes
in an artwork. *
2-Dimensional
Crafts (Batik)
-Define batik. * Experiment
with artificial
& natural dyes
in batik
making. *
-Experiment with
artificial & natural
dyes in batik
making.
-Explore the use of
tools & materials in
batik making.
-Create a batik work
such as scarf, skirt &
wall hanging.
-Experiment with
artificial & natural
dyes in batik
making. *
-Explore the use of
tools & materials
in batik making. *
3-Dimensional
Crafts (Body
ornaments)
-Explain body
ornaments. *
-Identify types of
ornaments. *
-Explore
different
materials &
techniques for
making body
ornaments. *
-Make body
ornaments
using different
materials. *
-Decorate jewellery
made from paper by
painting &
texturing.
-Explore different
materials &
techniques for
making body
ornaments.
-Make body
ornaments using
different materials.
-Decorate jewellery
made from paper
by painting &
texturing. *
-Explore different
materials &
techniques for
making body
ornaments. *
-Make body
ornaments using
different materials.
*
Sculpture
(Carving)
-Recognise
examples of
sculpture made
by carving.
Identify
materials
suitable for
sculpture
making by
carving. *
-Explore with tools,
materials &
techniques in
sculpture making.by
carving.
-Create a sculpture
-Recognise
examples of
sculpture made by
carving. *
-Explore with
tools, materials &
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© 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
by carving either in
relief or in the
round.
techniques in
sculpture
making.by carving.
*
-Identify materials
suitable for
sculpture making
by carving. *
Construction -Explain mobile,
relief &
freestanding
sculptures. *
-Explore with
tools, materials
& techniques
in sculpture
making by
construction. *
-Explore with tools,
materials &
techniques in
sculpture making by
construction.
-Construct a
sculpture using
appropriate
materials &
techniques.
-Explore with
tools, materials &
techniques in
sculpture making
by construction. *
Like the general objectives, specific objectives shown in Table 1 also show
emphasis on the discipline of „art production‟ because from the 16 (55%) specific
objectives identified as directly addressing DBAE from the overall total of 29, 15
(94%) were said to advocate art production while 1 (6%) focused on „art
criticism‟. In addition, students identified 23 specific objectives which could be
adopted to cater for the omitted disciplines. 6 (26%) of these objectives were
attached to „art criticism‟, 5 (22%) to „art history‟ and 12 (52%) to „aesthetics‟.
Examples of activities pupils could be engaged in to cover for the omitted
objectives were suggested. It is important to note that some of these objectives
were adopted from the already existing objectives under art criticism and art
production in table 1 while some were newly identified from the syllabus and
added to the table. Activities were designed to suit specific disciplines as shown
in the examples below: This included „art history‟ under the topics „Drawing‟
and „Painting‟ as the discipline was not attached to any specific objective.
Drawing & Painting under art history: Student-teachers were of the same view
that drawing and painting media and techniques used in the past including
purposes of the images created should be introduced to upper classes in
primary schools to prepare them for „art history‟ courses at high education.
Activities suggested included: introducing students to rock paintings; scratched
wood work and branded leather work. The objectives under art criticism state
that pupils should be able to talk about artwork and apply art elements and
principles of design were said to can develop pupils‟ aesthetics skills because
they will be exposed to various artworks and analysing them will help them
understand the artists‟ intensions and hence appreciate the works which is
„aesthetics. In addition, the findings further reveals that as pupils experiment
with the visual elements which is an objective for „drawing‟ under „art
production‟, they will incorporate ideas learnt when analysing art pieces and
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© 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
hence showing appreciation of other artists‟ work which will result in the
discipline of „aesthetics‟. Moreover, the objective which states that pupils should
„recognise the use of colour schemes‟ in an artwork was adopted and adapted to
suit „art criticism‟ and „aesthetics‟, the explanation being that before children use
colour, they need to learn its importance and how it can communicate different
expressions and reality and that knowledge can only be gained through
discussion of artworks and hence pupils appreciating colours around them.
Steers (2005) concurs with this idea that children understand art better if
involved in art criticism. 2-Dimensional Crafts (Batik) The objective „Define
batik‟ was placed under the discipline of „art criticism‟ with the justification that
the definition of batik incorporate its processes therefore, for children to
understand the technique, the teacher should bring a sample for them to discuss
looking at how media and art elements were used in a design to address the
design principles. This view too can also lead to the discipline of „aesthetics‟ as
pupils will appreciate other designers‟ work and benefit from their ideas when
creating their own work.
Furthermore, „experimenting with improvised materials such as dyes from
natural matter in fabric design which is an objective under „art production‟ in
table 3, was said to can also address „art history‟ and „aesthetics‟ in the sense that
discussion of artificial dyes will lead to talking about batik media and techniques
used in the past such as boiling roots and leaves with colour to dye fabric for
decoration purposes or to communicate a certain culture. Student-teachers said
children will later on engage in the use of batik making tools and other
materials. (Objective under art production) assuming that they will be allowed
to explore both artificial and natural media and techniques and hence appreciate
both of them which is „aesthetics‟. With respect to 3-Dimensional Crafts (Body
ornaments); suggestions were made that objectives adopted for „art criticism
„explain body ornaments‟ and „identify types of ornaments‟ could be covered by
bringing different samples to class and asking pupils to identify materials used
and explain the processes they think were followed to create the product.
One of the student-teachers commented that the type or name of the ornaments
is derived from the material used and gave an example of beads necklace that
they are made from beads. As shown in table 3, the two objectives on
exploration of materials and making of body ornaments using different
materials were adopted from the discipline of „art production‟ to also cover „art
history‟ and „aesthetics‟. Student-teachers suggested that under art history,
pupils should be exposed to materials and techniques used in the past such as
clay, snail shells and dry wild fruits beads so as to appreciate the work of
ornament which evolved over time which informs the present. According to
Mannathoko and Major (2013) exposing children to a variety of media develop
their creativity skills and hence gain confidence in their creation of artwork.
Sculpture (Carving): The objective „recognise examples of sculpture made by
carving‟ was seen by student- teachers to can cover „art criticism‟ and „aesthetics‟
arguing that children can only be able to differentiate sculptures if engaged in an
activity which allows for deeper understanding of their media and techniques
and even their roles thus, resulting in appreciation which is aesthetics in art
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© 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
perspective. They therefore, suggested that teachers could bring samples or take
children for an art tour to a relevant art centre for them to critique sculptures
having guiding questions or statements designed by the teacher to focus
children on the activity. „Identifying materials suitable for sculpture making by
carving‟ objective categorised under „art history‟ was said to can cover art
history if children can be taught about the role of sculptures in the past, how
they were created and media used then later given images of various sculptures
both created in the past and contemporary ones to categorise according to
„Traditional‟ and „Contemporary‟ sculptures.
Examples were given as clay, wood, aluminium, plaster of paris and papier
maché sculptures. Chanda (1993) has discussed types and roles of African
sculptures in the past, giving an example of a small wooden human figure
sculpture which was tied to women who had problems of giving birth. They
were also other types buried in secret areas and honoured as they were believed
to be ancestors with powers that could destroy the community and no one was
allowed to go to the place or else disaster would be experienced by the whole
community. Finally, students concurred that two objectives based on exploration
of sculpture media and materials and the proper identification of such materials
under „art history‟ was adopted to can also cover the discipline of „aesthetics‟
with the argument that as children understand sculpture of the past and explore
various media and techniques, they will understand them broadly and
appreciate sculpture created in different times and thus, developing aesthetics
skills. Construction The objective „explain mobile, relief & freestanding
sculptures‟ was believed if adopted could cater for „art criticism‟ with the
justification that children can be exposed to the images or real sculptures and
allowed to discuss them in terms of the media and techniques used to create
each of the three types. The student who suggested the activity explained to
colleagues that children will understand better if engaged in critiquing the
sculptures rather than just explaining the concepts. With „art history‟ and
„aesthetics‟, an objective on exploration of sculpture materials and tools was
adopted from „art production‟ and students agreed that the two disciplines can
be covered by an activity discussed under sculpture (carving) which advocate
exposure of children to sculptures created over time and hence promote the
discipline of „aesthetics‟. Educationists such as Lindstron (2007) and Bain (2004)
advice educators to effectively engage children in all the four aspects of DBAE so
as to produce citizens who are diverse and who can face all the challenges in life.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The document analysis data revealed that DBAE was not mentioned in the art
education within the CAPA syllabus. Nevertheless, some of the general
objectives and specific objectives linked well with the DBAE disciplines. The
objectives emphasised the discipline of „Art Production‟ with less focus on „Art
History‟. In addition, the „Pre-Focus Group‟ data has revealed that all the
student-teachers lacked knowledge of DBAE framework as they have not been
considering components of the DBAE when implementing art education
modules within the CAPA syllabus. However, after being introduced to the
approach, they showed a lot of understanding as they were able to identify the
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© 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
objectives from the CAPA, matching DBAE disciplines and placed each at the
relevant discipline.
They further managed to come up with activities which could be implemented
to cover for the omissions. The study therefore; recommends a further study to
make a follow-up with students who were engaged in this project to see how far
and how well they implement what they learnt in terms of DBAE framework. It
would also be of benefit to the education system in Botswana to incorporate
DBAE approach in the arts syllabus so as to guide teachers who could be lacking
knowledge of this important approach to art teaching and learning. Thus, the
intension is to organise a workshop for various education personnel to share
with them the DBAE approach to teaching the arts.
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International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research
Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 30-41, January 2016
Inclusive Education and Challenges of Providing
Classroom Support to Students with Blindness in a
General Education Classroom at a School in Botswana
Joseph Habulezi
University of Botswana,
Gaborone, Botswana
Odiretsemang Molao
Central Regional Education Office,
Serowe, Botswana
Sandy Mphuting
Kgalagadi Regional Education Office,
Kang, Botswana
Kebotlositswe Mark Kebotlositswe
Molefi Senior Secondary School,
Mochudi, Botswana
Abstract. The research investigated classroom support provision and the
challenges of providing support to students who are blind in a general
education classroom at an inclusive secondary school in Botswana.
Interviews, observation and questionnaires were used to collect the data.
The challenges of providing classroom assistance to students who are
blind in general education Biology classrooms are as diverse as the
students themselves. The teaching methods some teachers use do not
cater for all the students in an inclusive classroom. The main factors
leading to this include lack of adequate preparation and shortage of
both human and material resources. The class enrolments pose a
challenge because the classrooms are over enrolled. The study
recommends that special education Biology teachers be increased at the
school and more learning support workers equally be hired. Teacher
capacity building should also be considered as well as the acquisition of
more access technology.
Keywords: Classroom support; blindness; Botswana; challenges.
1. Introduction
Botswana has committed itself to achieving full inclusion in education to both
maximise the potential of its people for the future development of the country
and to fully comply with the international requirements for human and
educational rights. This is because the country views education, (Christie, 2010,
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
UNESCO, 1994, 2001, 2008, 2009), a basic human right. In its positive efforts to
fulfil its commitment, the government of Botswana through the Ministry of
Education and Skills Development formulated a guiding mission statement; to
provide efficient, quality, and relevant education and training that is accessible
to all. Consequently, in 2011, an inclusive education policy was launched and
implemented.
The implementation of inclusive education, though, has faced some challenges.
Despite all the efforts to cater for all students equitably, students with blindness
at a senior secondary school in Kgatleng District in Botswana are academically
performing poorly. This study, therefore, investigated the challenges of
providing classroom support to students with blindness in a Biology class. The
research aimed at establishing the underlying challenges of providing assistance
to students with blindness in a general education Biology classroom at a
secondary school in Kgatleng District in Botswana. Basing on the findings, the
study suggested solutions to overcoming the challenges.
Overleaf is a table showing an extract of the performance of the students in
reference in their final form five results from the school. For ethical reasons, the
names of students have been replaced with letters. Botswana uses the points
system in which a distinction, ‘A’ is 8 points, ‘B’ is 7 points, ‘C’ is 6 points, ‘D’ is
5 points, ‘E’ is 4 points while ‘F’, ‘G’ and ‘U’ attract no points.
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Table 1.1 Performance of students with visual impairment in the 2014 BGCSE
examinationsStudentname
Englishlanguage
Setswana
Mathematics
ScienceDoubleAward
Chemistry
Physics
Biology
History
Geography
SocialStudies
LiteratureinEnglish
ReligiousEducation
Art
Commerce
Pointsattained
A E C C DD D B C C 36
B D C C D D E D B C 35
C C D F DD C E 31
D D D D DD C D E E 31
E G C E EE D B 30
F C E E FF E D D 28
G E C F GG E E C F 24
H G D G GG E D C E 24
I E D U GG D D D 24
J E D U GG C F C F 21
K E D G UU E E E 17
L E D U UU U G B 16
M G E U UU U U C G 10
N F F U UU G F G 0
O F F U UU U F U 0
BGCSE-Botswana general certificate of secondary education
Source: Special Education Department, 2015
The trend of the results above prompted this research to find out the challenges of
providing classroom support to students with blindness in a general education
Biology class at a school in Botswana. Providing support to students who are
blind remains a challenge in general education classrooms and these challenges
vary as some lie with the teachers, while others lie with the students. Students
who are visually impaired have unique learning needs that must be addressed in
order for these students to become independent and productive citizens of the
society. It is against this back drop that today the family and educational
institutions face a significant challenge in providing services that will enhance the
positive academic outcomes for such students. One cannot over emphasis the fact
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© 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved.
that making appropriate decisions about students who are blind requires clear
understanding of their unique learning needs and interventions.
2. Classroom support
Classroom support mainly provides assistance to teachers during classroom
activities. Sharma et al (2010) emphasise that when students who are blind are
included in the classroom, it allows the mainstream teacher receive the much
needed assistance in the teaching of the needy students. Support basically refers
to resources and strategies that promote a student’s development, education,
interests and personal well-being in the classroom (Mphande, 2011). The support
offered needs to align with the teaching and learning methods the mainstream
class teacher uses for all the students to benefit academically (Abbott, 2014).
This environment should start with the attitude of school administrators
towards the inclusion of the students who are blind. The administrator’s attitude
influences the attitude of others, therefore creating acceptance or rejection. The
administrators should not only establish a school based support team and
encourage collaboration but also be active members of the team. Other members
of the team like learning support workers must be made available to increase
support in the classroom. In addition, classroom support can be provided by
specialist teachers who would support general education teachers during
lessons or they can co-teach. Travers et al (2014) warn that the organisation and
management of additional support for students require on-going monitoring
and review to evaluate its effectiveness. The support provided by learning
support workers should be importantly aiding the development of
independence in the students.
In the classrooms, the students who are blind should be availed opportunities to
learn like any other student. Firstly, the trained special education teacher should
assist students in the development of the sense of touch and use of other senses
in order to respond positively to situations. Williams (2015) and Fraser (2015)
recommend that the students who are blind should not be treated as passive
observers any more but must be involved actively in all the lessons. Greater
concept realisation and increased interest for students can only be realised if the
students are valued and given opportunities like all other students.
Piljl and Van den Bos (2001) advise that teachers should talk while they teach
and verbalise notes as they write legibly on the board. Delors (1996), Witburn
(2014) and William (2015) add that the use of verbal commentary, use of hands
on experience, sensitive questioning, explanations and descriptions can bring
alive the abstract material of some subject areas. In addition, students with
blindness should be strategically positioned to maximise their potential visually
or auditory. Students who are blind cannot fully access the curriculum if
modifications and adaptations are not considered. It is therefore important to
consider the abilities of students in any given subject and content. Nasib (2005)
asserts that changes to the syllabi, content or period of a course can be changed
to cater for students’ impairment in line with their abilities. Access technology
simplifies and aids in most of the operations of supporting the students’ learning
in inclusive education.
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Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016
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Vol 15 No 1 - January 2016

  • 1. International Journal of Learning, Teaching And Educational Research p-ISSN:1694-2493 e-ISSN:1694-2116IJLTER.ORG Vol.15 No.1
  • 2. PUBLISHER London Consulting Ltd District of Flacq Republic of Mauritius www.ijlter.org Chief Editor Dr. Antonio Silva Sprock, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Editorial Board Prof. Cecilia Junio Sabio Prof. Judith Serah K. Achoka Prof. Mojeed Kolawole Akinsola Dr Jonathan Glazzard Dr Marius Costel Esi Dr Katarzyna Peoples Dr Christopher David Thompson Dr Arif Sikander Dr Jelena Zascerinska Dr Gabor Kiss Dr Trish Julie Rooney Dr Esteban Vázquez-Cano Dr Barry Chametzky Dr Giorgio Poletti Dr Chi Man Tsui Dr Alexander Franco Dr Habil Beata Stachowiak Dr Afsaneh Sharif Dr Ronel Callaghan Dr Haim Shaked Dr Edith Uzoma Umeh Dr Amel Thafer Alshehry Dr Gail Dianna Caruth Dr Menelaos Emmanouel Sarris Dr Anabelie Villa Valdez Dr Özcan Özyurt Assistant Professor Dr Selma Kara Associate Professor Dr Habila Elisha Zuya International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research The International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research is an open-access journal which has been established for the dis- semination of state-of-the-art knowledge in the field of education, learning and teaching. IJLTER welcomes research articles from academics, ed- ucators, teachers, trainers and other practition- ers on all aspects of education to publish high quality peer-reviewed papers. Papers for publi- cation in the International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research are selected through precise peer-review to ensure quality, originality, appropriateness, significance and readability. Authors are solicited to contribute to this journal by submitting articles that illus- trate research results, projects, original surveys and case studies that describe significant ad- vances in the fields of education, training, e- learning, etc. Authors are invited to submit pa- pers to this journal through the ONLINE submis- sion system. Submissions must be original and should not have been published previously or be under consideration for publication while being evaluated by IJLTER.
  • 3. VOLUME 15 NUMBER 1 January 2016 Table of Contents Funding Higher Education in Australia: Is it Time to Look at Income Share Agreement as an Alternative Model to Income Contingent Loans? ...............................................................................................................................................1 Steven Holliday and Ergun Gide Discipline Based Art Education as an Approach to Art Instruction: The Case of Standard Seven Curriculum in Botswana................................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Dr Magdeline Chilalu Mannathoko Inclusive Education and Challenges of Providing Classroom Support to Students with Blindness in a General Education Classroom at a School in Botswana ................................................................................................................ 30 Joseph Habulezi, Odiretsemang Molao, Sandy Mphuting and Kebotlositswe Mark Kebotlositswe Small-Group Discussion and the Development of Interpretive Strategies in Literature Classrooms: a Quasi- Experimental Study with 9th - Grade Students ............................................................................................................... 42 Agapi Dalkou and Evangelia Frydaki Experiences of School and Family Communications and Interactions Among Parents of Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder............................................................................................................................................................ 66 Raol Taft, Candace Schlein and Crystal M. Ramsay The Predictive Power of Reasoning Ability on Academic Achievement ...................................................................... 79 Mehraj A. Bhat Critical Analysis of Embedded and Summative Feedback from Online Doctoral Instructors on Benchmark Assessments .......................................................................................................................................................................... 89 Kelley Walters, PhD and Patricia Henry, PhD
  • 4. 1 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 1-13, January 2016 Funding Higher Education in Australia: Is it Time to Look at Income Share Agreement as an Alternative Model to Income Contingent Loans? Steven Holliday Central Queensland University, Australia Ergun Gide Central Queensland University, Australia Abstract. Human Capital Contracts are an emerging alternative means for financing the up-front investment cost of university students. This method involves investors financing the development of a students’ human capital based on their expected future incomes and taking as share of their future income for a defined period as a return on their investment. In recent years such an approach has begun to emerge in the United States in particular. In Australia student fees are funded through an income contingent loan system however this system is struggling with high debt levels and high proportional write offs. Would an Income Share Agreement (ISA) program possibility be an alternative scheme which may take pressure of the Australian Government funding by transferring the risk to the private sector? Ideally such a scheme would maintain the basic principles behind the current system, but allow for private investors to predominantly fund the scheme. Potentially principles from both financing systems may provide a framework for a new innovative model into the future. This review suggest that further research appears to be warranted as this alternative scheme has potential to address some of the key Higher Education funding concerns in Australia at this time. Keywords: HECS; Human Capital; Funding; Higher Education; ISA; “Income share agreements” Introduction Funding of higher education is vital for the achievement of the educational aspirations of any nation. If the funding is not adequate, it is unlikely that the desired results will be actualised. The capital labour market is known for its limitations as the market has difficulty pricing the work in progress value of individuals. According to Yu and Salyards (2008) Capital Asset Pricing Models do not allow for the market to adequately price human capital as a work in progress. An investment in an individual’s higher education is an investment in a future asset, but there is no
  • 5. 2 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. way to secure that investment. As Chapman (1997) pointed out “there is no market for human slavery,” so how does an investor invest in a future graduate’s expected income? Future income is uncertain, and there is no collateral to fall back on or recover should the future income streams not eventuate. Friedman outlined the reasoning for his Human Capital Contract ideas as follows: “The counterpart for education would be to "buy" a share in an individual's earning prospects: to advance him the funds needed to finance his training on condition that he agrees to pay the lender a specified fraction of his future earnings. In this way, a lender would get back more than his initial investment from relatively successful individuals, which would compensate for the failure to recoup his original investment from the unsuccessful” (Friedman, 1955, np.). “On the other hand, if individuals sold 'stock' in themselves, i.e., obligated themselves to pay a fixed proportion of future earnings, investors could 'diversify' their holdings and balance capital appreciations against capital losses. The purchase of such 'stock‟ would be profitable so long as the expected return on investment in training exceeded the market rate of interest”(Friedman & Kuznets, 1945, p.90). Over the last 5 to 7 years there has been considerable interest in Human Capital Contracts or Income Share Agreements (ISA’s) as they are sometimes known. Contracts through organisations such as Pave, Upstart and Alumni have been commenced in a Friedman style approach. This has also come to the attention of regulators who have begun to consider guidelines for the operation of these schemes (discussed further below). Australia has a significantly different approach to the funding of higher education (HE) to the United States, however these concepts should be explored to further to examine whether they can be adopted successfully to the Australian context and for the benefit of the public good. Methodology To further understand how these relatively new concepts can be applied to the Australian Higher Education sector, a review of current literature has been summarised below. The literature reviewed examine both contemporary practices and current thinking both for arguments for and against this approach. By looking at the recurrent themes arising from this literature, these concepts are then considered with reference to our current higher education funding arrangements in Australia and consideration is then made as to how these concepts may be applied in that context. Analysis and Results of Literature Review a) What is a Human Capital Contract (HCC) and how does it work? Palacios explained the concept and benefits of HCCs succinctly as follows: “Under a human capital contract, a student receives funding in exchange for a percentage of his or her income during a fixed period of time. Human capital contracts
  • 6. 3 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. are equity-like instruments because the investor‟s return will depend on the earnings of the student, not on a predefined interest rate. The effects of these arrangements are, among others, less risk for the student, transfer of risk to a party that can manage it better, increased information regarding the economic value of education, and increased competition in the higher education market”(Palacios, 2002, p.1). Another term used for these type of arrangements are “Income Share Agreements”(ISA), this title focuses more on the shared arrangement of investing in an individual’s future income, as those who share in the person’s success should also be rewarded with a share of that success as a return on their investment. The Wall Street Journal has described such agreements as “individuals selling stock in themselves”(Belkin, 2015). In the United States legislation has been introduced to begin the regulation of such arrangements under the “Student Success Act” (US Congress CRS, 2014) whereby student loans would be capped at 30 years and a maximum of 15% of earnings. This legislation is currently seeking passage in respect of these agreements (Griswold, 2014a; Supiano, 2014) . Another important aspect of this legislation is that it is not regarded a debt instrument (US Congress CRS, 2014) which has the benefit for the student in terms of future borrowings and provides a level of security for the student. Companies such as Upstart, Pave and Lumni in the United States are currently providing such financing and the terms are usually based on extensive algorithms to assess the potential risks and potential benefits of the individual being financed (Griswold, 2014b; Nisen, 2015; Surowieki, 2013). The investor is also encouraged to mentor and support the student, however the recent legislation places a prohibition on investors coercing or forcing certain actions or choices on the borrower (CRS, 2014). The idea of advance funding by private investors for a stake in an individual’s success is not new, for example the world champion boxer Muhammed Ali was financed by investors in his early years. These investors paid for his training and expenses in return for a share of his winnings (Surowieki, 2013). In the world of publishing it is not unusual for a book company to advance a writer funds in advance of the book being completed in anticipation of future reward (Surowieki, 2013). Although these examples are similar to the concept discussed, they are relatively unique situations which recognise rare talent. The idea of income contingent loans are not new with such educational financing occurring in many countries such as the U.S.A, U.K, Australia and New Zealand but this financing is usually made by the government and not the private sector (Chapman, 2006). The benefits of an income share agreement was well put by Holt (2013), when compared to private student loans which are common the United States.
  • 7. 4 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. “On a private student loan, my nominal monthly payment is fixed (sure, certainty is nice) but my income could change or go away altogether (making certainty just a monthly repetition of bad news). With an Income Share Agreement the converse is true: I don‟t know what my nominal monthly payment will be over the entire term, or how much I will pay overall, but I do know that I will always be able to afford it. Which would you prefer? I‟ll take the certainty from an Income Share Agreement”(Holt, 2013, np.). Income Share Agreements are based similarly on the concepts surrounding income contingent loans such as the Higher Education Contribution Scheme HECS) in Australia, however they have a market approach. An insightful comment on the new Income Share Agreements was made by Surowieki from the New Yorker Magazine: “Upstart may succeed or it may fail, but the principle behind it is unlikely to disappear. This isn‟t entirely a benign development. Income-based plans make it easier for students to repay their loans, but they also reinforce the idea that education funding is the responsibility of the individual rather than of the state. Still, on their own terms, they‟re a step forward. The old way of borrowing was predicated on a world in which the job market was stable and everyone had a steady income. That world of work is changing. The way we finance it needs to change, too” (Surowieki, 2013, np.). b) Are income share agreements akin to a slavery model? There are many commentators who view a Human Capital Contract or an Income Share Agreement in respect of the funding of higher education and other similar arrangements as a form of indentured service which is akin to a slavery model (Previti, 2013). Whilst a common mental image associated with slavery would involve chains and whips and harsh conditions, indentured slavery was generally associated with debt and the exchange of human labour for a set period of time (Oei, 2015). The main objections centre on the availability of opt-out clauses over the course of the agreement (Nerlove, 1975) and whether the lender was able to exercise a level of control over the student that they had financed. The other considerations are whether the conditions are too harsh or unreasonable and whether students are being taken advantage of (Nerlove, 1975). These are reasonable concerns and some of these aspects have been considered in recent legislation in the United States, in particular the Student Success Act (CRS, 2014). Some media commentators such as Kevin Roose from New York Magazine express their social concerns as reflected below and this implies that there may be an uneasiness toward financing where students pledge their future income: “A year-old company begun by ex-Googlers that is giving young people in the post-crash economy the chance to indenture themselves to patrons in the investor class. It does this by making it easy for users to create human-capital contracts” (Roose, 2013, np.).
  • 8. 5 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Oie & Ring (2015, p.714) believe that although there are no human property rights under such agreements, such property rights may be approximated under a financial agreement and that it is important to define some of the legal aspects and definitions in these agreements. This need for legal clarity appears to be a common theme in respect of ISA’s (Kelchen, 2015; Oei, 2015; Supiano, 2014). Some considerations per Oei & Ring (2015 pp. 714-716) in respect of these contracts which separate them from the notion of indentured servitude or slavery are as follows : (i) ISA’s do not force the borrower to work for them; (ii) ISA’s are a voluntary agreement; (iii) Work performed is compensated; (iv) The type of work performed is not specified. c) Availability of investors and the issue of bankruptcy or refusal to pay According to the Wall Street Journal (Belkin, 2015), the financing company Pave ran into problems in 2015 with carrying out this sort of arrangement, not due to student demand for the loans, as demand for their Income Share Agreements was exceptionally strong, the issue was the level of investor take up. Between 2012 and 2014 Pave received over 10,000 applications for funding, however they could only provide for 70 students. Pave found that the lack of legal clarity made it difficult for investors to commit to providing the capital funding (Belkin, 2015, np.). As there are only a few commercial providers, this does represent a potential difficulty for these types of funding arrangements. Whilst this is a current problem, the moves towards legal clarification in the United States may assist to improve investor confidence. The other difficulty perceived by investors is surrounding bankruptcy, refusal to pay and income hiding or even declaring their true intentions for study. “An ISA structure gives students incentive to be less than honest about their intentions -for example, saying they plan to become computer scientists but knowing they will go into social work” (Supiano, 2014, np.). The issue of income avoidance to avoid debt has been well discussed by various commentators (McArdle, 2015; Nerlove, 1975; Oei & Ring, 2015; Supiano, 2014) when considering this area of financing. It should be noted at this point that in the Australian income contingent loan system, repayments are managed through the taxation system and the data is collected from tax returns and repayments made via tax deductions to cover the expected liability. This has proven to be an effective method for recovery, however as Income Share Agreements are generally in the private financing domain, such collection options are not available. The inability to definitively determine the share to be paid could be problematic and this increases the risk for potential investors.
  • 9. 6 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (d) What are the community benefit concerns of ISA’s and how are differing sectors and needs addressed? As a general rule, in a capitalist society the free market will balance supply and demand to determine optimal pricing and provide a diversity of options in the market place. According to Yu & Salyards (2008) human capital models generally have difficulty in this arena as humans are less predictable than machinery or inanimate processes and therefore it is difficult to price in Capital Assets Pricing Models (CAPM). Risk and return play an important consideration, as it does in a normal free market model. In terms of financing future graduates, the market for engineers and doctors, the risk and return factors will be completely different as will be the amount financed. Investors may reasonably prefer to invest in graduate careers which typically generate more income, than investing in graduates in professions which are typically lower paid. The lower the expected income profile, the higher the risk of default and the market will tend towards pricing that risk in the form of higher interest charges. Palacios, the founder of Pave believes a market based approach will send the correct resourcing signal to the student: “Because ISA investors earn a profit only when a student is successful, they offer students better terms for programs that are expected to be of high value and have strong incentives to support students both during school and after graduation. This process gives students strong signals about which programs and fields are most likely to help them be successful” Palacios, De Sorrento & Kelly (2014, p.1). Whilst market forces may drive students to make good economic choices for their future, there is a concern about the social good aspect of education and whether this can be protected in a free market model. Whilst nurses and teachers are vitally important to the community, they are not paid as well as lawyers and accountants. Under a market based Income Share Agreement model there would be a tendency for those being trained in careers which are lower paid, to have their proportional repayments at a higher level. There is a sense of unfairness in this as there would be an additional risk loading which further compounds their lower salary profile and ability to pay. Widespread adoption of such a model could in time affect the supply of students entering these fields. (e) Yale University Tuition Postponement Option This Human Capital Contract concept was partially applied to the Tuition Postponement Option (TPO) introduced to Yale University. This program ran from 1971 to 1978 and was jointly contributed to by Tobin (President of Yale ) and Milton Friedman (Harris, 2013). It was discontinued in 1978 when the government introduced alternative funding options for such students. The concept was generally regarded as the first application of income contingent loans for education, however this was also similar to a Human Capital Contract.
  • 10. 7 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. The TPO levied the tuition cost for a cohort of students as a debt to that group of students. A percentage of income would be charged to all of the cohort until the debt was cleared for the entire group. This resulted in members of the cohort paying significant amounts due to the default of others (Harris, 2013). Those defaulting or with poor earnings resulted in a delay in the finalisation of the overall debt obligation, the debt burden of which fell onto the successful students. This arrangement was seen by the students as inequitable and the Alumni of Yale University more than 20 years later pressed for the closure of this arrangement and the write off of remaining debts. The idea that successful graduates would help offset the costs of the unsuccessful graduates was part of the Friedman concept, but his idea was that this was not to be funded by the university itself (Harris, 2013). Under the TPO the debt was defined, attracted interest and the potential term of the contract was extremely long, in this case 35 years before the debt would be written off, whereas the Friedman concept had no defined debt value but was an income contingent payment over a shorter defined period (Friedman & Kuznets, 1945). Whilst this scheme was generally regarded as a failure, it was an experiment which can be learned from. Despite the fact that this program had to be discontinued due to the protests from Yale’s Alumni two decades later, the concept of income contingent financing was later revived through the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) in Australia and similar schemes in other countries such as the UK and New Zealand (Chapman, 2006). (f) H.R.4436 - Investing in Student Success Act of 2014 This Act is important to the topic of human capital contracts, or income share agreements as it represented the first moves in the legal sphere in the area of these types of agreements. This legal move provides an indication of the public issues and the safeguards which were considered important. It provides what appears to be a clear set of guidelines for the protection of students. In terms of a legal definition for an income share agreement, the following was submitted to US Congress as a definition of an Income Share Agreement: “An agreement between an individual and any other person under which the individual commits to pay a specified percentage of the individual's future income, for a specified period of time, in exchange for payments to or on behalf of such individual for postsecondary education, workforce development, or other purposes”(CRS, 2014, np.). The specific areas which were placed as guidelines can be summarized as follows (CRS, 2014): (i) Agreements must specify the percentage of future income agreed to; (ii) The first $10,000 of any year is exempt (indexed each year for inflation); (iii) It must specify what is included as future income;
  • 11. 8 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (iv) It must specify a maximum term and the act proposed a maximum period of 360 months not including any months where the borrower’s income was below the minimum; (v) No more than 15% of a person’s income should be obligated under the agreement; (vi) It should also specify the arrangements for early termination of the agreement; (vii) Prohibits the lender to place controls over the borrowers’ actions; (viii) The agreement must clearly indicate that this is not a debt instrument. (g) Review of the current Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS- HELP) in Australia The HECS system was regarded as an innovative solution and it has been in operation since 1989 in Australia (Harris, 2013). There are many important principles which underpin this system, and these need to be considered in considering any alternative approaches. One of the important aspects of the HECS program was to re-introduce private contributions from students, whilst at the same time allowing access to university for poor but talented students (Chapman, 1996). In 2005 as part of the Higher Education Support Act 2003, this scheme which relates to students under Commonwealth Supported Places was renamed as the Higher Education Loans Program (HELP) and has now become known as HECS-HELP (Parliament of Australia, 2014). Some of the main principles of HECS-HELP are as follows: (i) Income Contingent financing lowers financial barriers to entry for students who do not have access to funds for higher education, particularly for poor but talented students (Chapman, 1997, p.741). (ii) Income Contingent financing provides a level of insurance for the student, should their career path be affected by unforeseen circumstances and their income not be what was expected, there is no requirement for contributions until they reach the average wage as was per the original scheme (Birch, 2008; Chapman, 1996, 1997). (iii) Income contingent financing provides for students to still have capacity to have future borrowing capacity by only requiring repayments when above average income is earned (Chapman, 1997). Another important aspect is that repayment is payable on death or out of an estate, nor is it payable upon bankruptcy, it remains only payable on the student paying a future portion of their income after they reach a minimum wage level. These factors allow young graduates to be eligible to apply for finance. Concerns were raised early in the scheme that the education loans would delay students in starting families due to the financial burden and restricted borrowing capacity. These concerns raised by Davis (2005), were refuted by a comprehensive analysis in an article (Yu, Kippen & Chapman, 2007, pp.73-90). (iv) As Chapman pointed out: “HECS offers a form of „default insurance', such that the former student does not have to bear the costs of reneging on their debt as a result of periods of low future incomes. This is quite different from a mortgage-style loan, in which the costs of defaulting may be very high in terms of being locked out of other capital markets
  • 12. 9 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (most notably for housing) through damage to a person's credit reputation” (Chapman, 1997, p.742). (v) Alternative schemes are available for upfront payment and subsidies are provided to reward and encourage that option. (h) How are private fee charges determined in Australia? The Australian undergraduate commonwealth funded places have two components which are determined by the field of education (FOE). The groupings of the fields of education determines the amount of government funding which is provided to the university for that student, and the maximum amount which the government will finance as a student contribution, which the government then manages. For example, based on 2015 rates, a student studying to be a teacher will have a government contribution of $10,026 which will be paid to their university, and the university can set a fee for the student contribution to a maximum of $6152. The Government also pays the student contribution to the university and manages the arrangements for repayment. It should be noted here that nearly all universities in practice apply the full maximum student contribution. In contrast a law student has a government contribution of $1961 and a maximum student contribution of $10,266 which shows a more inverse relationship between the private and government contributions. As an additional contrast, the high cost courses have a different variation again e.g. Engineering, and these relationships are shown in the table below. Table 1: Commonwealth Grants Scheme (CGS) contributions 2015 –comparison table for Law, Education and Engineering Subject field Commonwealth Contribution Maximum Student Contribution Total Resourcing Percentage Student Contribution Education $10,026 $6,152 $16,178 38% Law $1,961 $10,266 $12,227 84% Engineering $8768 $16,850 $25,618 66% Source: Total resourcing for a Commonwealth supported place by discipline ‐ 2015 (Australian Government, 2015). Whilst the various student contribution rates are determined by the government as part of political negotiation, perceived needs and national priorities, there is a nexus between estimated future incomes and the amounts that students are expected to contribute. Generally, lawyers and doctors earn much more than teachers and this is reflected in the higher contributions for those fields of education. In addition, the total resourcing amounts also reflect the relative costs
  • 13. 10 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. associated with the delivery of programs, therefore law which is more classroom based is less resourced than engineering which has higher costs in terms of laboratories, internships and equipment and supplies. Whilst it is difficult to find the guidelines for determining the basis of contributions, the basis was described by Duckett around the time of the Nelson review as: “They incorporate the same mix of policy considerations: cost of courses and perceived private returns to education” (Duckett, 2004, p.218). This aspect of the Australian funding arrangements is particularly relevant to this discussion as the level of contribution has a proportional relationship to expected graduate salaries, therefore the finance risk is reduced for those on lower anticipated career salaries, but reducing the amount that needs to be financed by those students. Discussion: Would an ISA arrangement work in Australia? The Australian HECS-HELP system is managed by the Australian Government and is not a private market based solution. The Australian Government as the financer of the student contributions bears the risks of unrecovered debt and this has been rising in the last few years and the level of write off is a concern for the government. According the Grattan Institute, the Australian Government finances around $6b each year in loans and it is expected that around $113m will be uncollectable by 2017 with approximately 17% which is considered to be doubtful debts, in other words they do not expect to obtain full recovery (Norton, 2014, p.1). Graduates are unlikely to move away from these current arrangements as the HECS-HELP system provides a convenient and low risk method of financing in respect of the fees those students must contribute towards their higher education. If the current ICL arrangements remained unchanged, there would be little incentive to move away from this government based program, unless there was a viable alternative that was perceived to more advantageous. In the United States the ISA’s have in recent years gained interest due to the financing gaps in the US system as the government loans are not accessible to many and there are other perceived shortfalls and inequities (Palacios, De Sorrento & Kelly, 2014). Income Share Agreements to date have not been part of recent reform discussions in Australia, however with the new interest in this style of financing for education in the United States, it may be useful to at least consider the merits of ICA’S and how these could be applied to meet Australia’s needs. Australia would particularly benefit from this particularly if the funding burden and risk can be moved to the private sector. An increase in funding by private equity could potentially free up government funds for investment and this could potentially lead to increased development in the higher education sector.
  • 14. 11 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Conclusion Income Share Agreements are a form of Income Contingent loans and they have many of the same benefits in terms of providing access, lowering barrier to entry to university, allowing the student to pay when they can afford to make payments and so on. The added benefit is these Share Agreements have the potential to move the funding burden away from the Government or the university and into the private sector, which is a significant outcome if achievable as it has the potential to free up funds for improvements in the sector. The main difference is that some successful graduates will pay more than they would under the current HECS-HELP system in Australia, but this is offset by the fact those less successful could also pay less, but on balance students should be successful as a result of their higher education in terms of graduate outcomes and salaries and these benefits can provide the return on investment to lenders. Another key difference is the defined period of the ISA, the current HECS-HELP arrangements continue until the debt is cleared and will index according to inflation to maintain the real value of the outstanding debt. By comparison an ICA potentially makes personal financial planning easier due to the defined nature of the financial arrangement (lessens uncertainties and therefore risk). There are many factors to consider, particularly in the area of legal guidelines and protection of both investors and students, but some of this ground work is already being established in the United States. If recovery of ISA’s and income determination for repayments was tackled through the taxation system in the same way the current HECS-HELP system works, this would lessen some of the investor concerns, however as this is a private market method of funding, a way forward would need to be negotiated. Income Share Agreements are relatively new, however further research into how this approach could be adopted in the Australian context may prove to be worthwhile, particularly if it could provide an innovative approach to Australia’s higher education funding systems. It should also be noted at this point that there is an element of income contingency in the student contributions in Australia. The level of contribution by the students (currently set as maximums for universities to charge) is reflective of expected graduate salaries, lawyers, doctors and accountants are expected to contribute proportionally more than nurses or teachers. One overall solution to funding may be to look at removing these notional contribution proportions and moving to a form of income contingent loans based solely on graduate income and providing the university funding proportion on more of a standardised cost proportion or other measure which would be independent of expected graduate ability to pay. From a funding management perspective, this would allow proper consideration of both funding components (government contributions and student contributions) rather than having these as a mix of different concepts i.e. direct cost, ability to pay and national priorities. These
  • 15. 12 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. sorts of ideas as well as the legal frameworks behind such Income Share Agreements may be well worth further research. It is possible that within those ideas an improved process will be generated for the funding of education in Australia. References Australian Government. (2015). Total resourcing for a Commonwealth supported place by discipline ‐ 2015. Retrieved from https://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/2015indexedrates_with _ed.pdf Belkin, B. (2015). More College Students Selling Stock—in Themselves : Amid higher- education borrowing boom, programs aim to capitalize on graduates’ future earnings. http://www.wsj.com/articles/more-college-students-selling-stockin- themselves-1438791977 Birch, R., & Miller,P. (2008). HECS: Some of the missing pieces. Australian Universities Review, 50(1), 30-36. Chapman, B. (1996). The rationale for the Higher Education Contribution Scheme. Australian Universities Review, 39 ( 1), 43-50. Chapman, B. (1997). Conceptual issues and the Australian experience with income contingent charges for higher education. Economic journal, 107 (442), 738-751. Chapman, B. (2006). Income contingent loans as public policy. The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia Canberra 2006, Occasional Paper Series 2/2006 (Policy Paper # 5), 1-20. CRS. (2014). Summary: H.R.4436 — 113th Congress (2013-2014) : Investing in Student Success Act of 2014. Davis, C. (2005). Fertility crisis or fertility strike? Why a generation is saying "no". Redress, 14 (1), 25-29. Duckett, S. (2004). Turning right at the crossroads: The Nelson Report’s proposals to transform Australia’s universities. Higher Education Policy, 47(2), 211-240. Friedman, M. (1955). The role of Government in Education. In R. Solo (Ed.), Economics and the Public Interest (pp. 318). Rutgers College in New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. (Reprinted from: Robert A. Solo, copyright © 1955 by the Trustees of Rutgers College in New Jersey. Reprinted by permission of Rutgers University Press.). Friedman, M., & Kuznets,S. (1945). Income from Independent Professional Practice: National Bureau of Economic Research. Griswold, A. (2014a). Because you’re worth it (Online magazine article). Retrieved 6th September,2015, from Amazon Associates http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2014/04/income_share_a greements_instead_of_taking_out_loans_students_sell_stock.html Griswold, A. (2014b). A group of investors is buying a stake in the next generation of geniuses (Online magazine article ). Retrieved 4, from Allure Media HTTP://WWW.BUSINESSINSIDER.COM.AU/UPSTART-AND-PAVE- INVESTING-IN-HUMAN-CAPITAL-2014-2 Harris, G., & Landrum, L. (2013). The Yale Experiment. Chronicle of higher education, 60(13), b13-b15. Holt, A. (2013). You want a piece of me? The case for income share agreements. Retrieved from http://www.edcentral.org/you-want-a-piece-of-me/
  • 16. 13 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Kelchen, R. (2015). Who would use Income Share Agreements to pay for college? Magazine Article Retrieved from http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/blog/who_would_use_in come_share_agr.php?page=all McArdle, M. (2015, 31st July,2015). Megan McArdle commentary: Income-share deals aren't likely to fix student debt, Op-Ed Columns,The Columbus Despatch. Retrieved from http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2015/07/31/mcardle.ht ml Nerlove, M. (1975). Some problems in the use of Income Contingent Loans for the funding of Higher Education. Journal of Political Economy, 83(1), 157-183. Nisen, M. (2015). No more student loans? Purdue University proposes selling shares of students’ future income. Retrieved from The Altantic Media Co. http://qz.com/482033/no-more-student-loans-purdue-university-proposes- selling-shares-of-students-future-income/ Norton, A. (2014). Doubtful debt : The rising cost of student loans, Grattan Institute. http://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/809-doubtful-debt1.pdf Oei, S., & Ring,D. (2015). Human equity? regulating the new Income Share Agreements. Vanderbilt Law Review, Vanderbilt University Law School., 68(3), 681-760. Palacios, M. (2002). Human Capital Contracts "Equity-like" instruments for financing Higher Education Policy Analysis (Vol. 462, pp. 1-11). Washington D.C. USA: Cato Institute. Palacios, M., & Kelly,A. (2014). Better way to finance that college degree : A student-loan innovation protects graduates from overwhelming debt., Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303456104579485801253355622 Palacios, M., De Sorrento,T & Kelly,A. (2014). Investing in value, sharing risk: financing Higher Education through Income Share Agreements. Center on Higher Education Reform, American Education Reform Institute: AEI Series on Reinventing Financial Aid. Parliament of Australia. (2014, Updated 9 October 2014 ). Higher Education Loan Program (HELP): a quick guide. Research Paper 2014-2015. Retrieved 20/9/2015, 2014, from http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/library/prspub/2935268/uploa d_binary/2935268.pdf;fileType=application/pdf Previti, K. (2013). The American School for indentured servants. Reclaim Reform Retrieved 4/9/20145, 2015, from http://reclaimreform.com/2013/06/19/the-american- school-for-indentured-servants/ Roose, K. (2013, October 28, 2013 ). In the new economy, everyone is an indentured taskrabbit. New York Magazine : The Daily Intelligencer (online version). Supiano, B. (2014). A new strategy for paying for college hinges on private investors. Chronicle of higher education, 61(32), A12-A12. Surowieki, J. (2013, November 2013). The new futurism. The New Yorker, Condé Nast Digital, a division of Advance Publications Yu, P., Kippen,R & Chapman,B. (2007). Births,Debts and Mirages: The impact of the Higher Education Scheme and other factors on Australian fertility expectations. Journal of Population Research, 24(1), 73-90. Yu, W., & Salyards,D. (2008). A securitised market for human capital. Economic Affairs, 28(3), 50-56.
  • 17. 14 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 14-29, January 2016 Discipline Based Art Education as an Approach to Art Instruction: The Case of Standard Seven Curriculum in Botswana Dr Magdeline Chilalu Mannathoko University of Botswana Gaborone, Botswana Abstract. There are various curricula models in Art and Design, some of which are Critical Studies, Arts Propel and Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE). While these models theoretically have different foci, they are essentially similar in the critical content areas from which they draw their disciplinary knowledge and skills. These are listed under the DBAE as Art History, Art Criticism, Production and Aesthetics. The four disciplinary content areas are critical in the development of fundamental knowledge and skills in Art and Design. Production entails that students apply the art elements and principles of design while at the same time drawing a critical eye from aesthetics. Students explore a variety of media in different ways. They also ask philosophical questions in the process as well as drawing ideas from historical contexts. These are the four things that students do with art. The purpose of this paper is to find out the extent to which the Art and Design curriculum in Botswana is reflective of the fundamental principles of DBAE which has pervaded most art curricula in different countries. Content analysis was done on the existing syllabus and other policy documents that inform the curriculum to identify overlaps. The study was an Action Research and it involved sixty-six level three Art specialists in-service student-teachers from the University of Botswana who worked in groups to share their Art teaching experiences in relation to DBAE. They later identified and categorised Art objectives stipulated in the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) syllabus according to DBAE disciplines. When presenting their findings, Student-teachers concluded that Art Production and Art Criticism were effectively addressed during curriculum development compared to the other two disciplines. Nevertheless, they argued that objectives which required learners to explore colour schemes covered „Aesthetics‟ and the ones seeking for explanation of Visual forms can address „Art History‟ As a result, the study recommends that an evaluation be done to Art education in the CAPA to include the components of DBAE. Teacher- training institutions also need to prepare students-teachers to incorporate DBAE components in their instruction.
  • 18. 15 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Key Words: Creative and Performing Arts; Art Education; Attainment Targets; Objectives; Art and Design curricula models. Introduction Art as a discipline was recently introduced in Botswana schools. It was introduced at junior secondary school (1992) earlier than in lower primary schools (in 2002). To me this is an anomaly as there is likely to be unsequential development of the subject. At upper primary art was introduced in 2005. Before the introduction of a curricula syllabus called Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), art in Botswana primary schools was taught without a guideline, therefore, it was optional (Mannathoko, 2015). Among some of major innovations in the Botswana school curriculum was the suggestion to introduce practical subjects among them art and design, art and craft then (Report of the National Commission on Education, 1993) (RNCE). This ideas was subsequently adopted in 1994 under the Revised National Policy on Education (1994) and this gave birth to the CAPA syllabus in 2002 (Phuthego, 2007). The main aim for the introduction of practical subjects was to develop technological thinking and manipulative skills in learners. Such appreciation would lay the foundation for national development at an early stage. CAPA drew its content from disciplines that include home economics, art and craft, business studies, design technology, dance and drama and physical education (Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit, 2002). The grouping of these subjects under the umbrella CAPA was recommended by the American agency called „Cream Wright‟ which was assigned by the Ministry of Education, Skills and Development to review the primary school curriculum (Phibion, 2006). To account for this combination, the agency explained that CAPA subjects were put together to facilitate project teaching and integration (Wright, 1995). Moreover, the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit (2002, 2005) has stipulated in the CAPA syllabus, Attainment Targets, which guide teachers on what is expected of pupils at the end of each level of learning (lower and upper primary). These Attainment Targets are categorised into four aspects for lower primary: Knowledge and Understanding, Manipulative Skills, Creativity and Attitudes. For Upper Primary skills were increased by adding the aspect of „Communication‟ and hence making them five in this level. The Attainment Targets are the basis upon which the Botswana Examination Council (BEC) will base their examination questions on, to diagnose the pupils‟ ability at the end of each of the two levels. The Department further generated the general and specific objectives which define the content to be delivered at each level of learning. “The CAPA syllabus‟ main aims, are to help students develop creativity skills; problem solving aptitudes, critical thinking competencies, aesthetic recognition and appreciation, psychomotor dexterity along with positive attitudes towards practical work and productivity” as cited by the Curriculum and Evaluation Department of 2005.
  • 19. 16 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE) approach being the most recommended mode of teaching and learning Art internationally, is not mentioned in the CAPA syllabus and hence the need to investigate how teachers addressed it at both lesson planning and lesson presentation stages. The methodology enhances the interdisciplinary nature of the four DBAE disciplines (art production, art criticism, aesthetics, art history) discussed at length in the literature review section. DBAE framework has the greatest aim of teaching art in its social, cultural and historical context and it combines practical work with theoretical and contextual studies (Hayes, 2015). The four disciplines are aimed at enhancement of in-depth knowledge of visual arts among art students. Discipline-Based Art Education has been viewed by many art educationists to be the most effective approach in the teaching and learning of art. The methodology integrates the disciplines of aesthetics, production, art history and art criticism into a coherent body of knowledge. This study, therefore, examined the extent to which art education within the CAPA syllabus addressed DBAE component. The study was a result of a recommendation in one of my studies which examined education documents (Revised National Policy for Education, Basic Education and Primary Education programmes) to find out the extent to which they promoted DBAE. The study recommendation suggested a further research „to investigate the extent to which teachers addressed DBAE disciplines during instruction‟. Two major questions guiding this study can be put forward as:  How do the art education topics and objectives address DBAE framework?  To what extent do strategies and methodologies in art address DBAE approach? Literature Review This section discusses literature related to the study with more focus on Discipline-Based Art Education framework; since all data was based on this approach. DBAE is a curricula model that draws its content from the four disciplines which will be discussed later in this section. It was designed by the Paul Getty Trust in America in the early 1980s to support a diminished emphasis on studio instruction and encouraged education across four aforementioned disciplines within the arts (Greer, 1993). Following its footing in 1982, the Getty Education Institute for the Arts based in America, recommended DBAE as an effective approach to teaching art, arguing that it helps learners experience the visual arts in a variety of ways. According to Greer (1993) the institution‟s recommendation was an adoption of the ideas of art educators who had been advocating a more integrative methodology that draws its knowledge and skills competences from the four disciplines which follows: The first discipline, production; is simply, how to create an artwork. It involves creative use of tools and art equipment in innovative ways. It results in tangible studio products that demonstrate critical thinking and imagination processes and art students get stimulated as they explore or manipulate art media (Greene, 2014). Art production is a critical component in any art programme. It is a domain that promotes kinaesthetic development as students express themselves in some
  • 20. 17 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. visual medium. Students are encouraged to explore a variety of media in the process of production. They learn the peculiarities of different media. They are also exposed to multi-media studies in which they learn how to combine media in expressive ways. Students become masters of different media. According to Greene (2014) studio production gives students the opportunity to express themselves and show their individuality. Another domain, art criticism, is equally important. In simple terms art criticism is „talking about art‟. It involves discussing, evaluating, interpreting and analysing various aspects of art such as style, media and the use of art elements and principles of design (Day and Hurwitz, 2012). Students carry out critiques both verbal and in written form which heighten their understanding of the art forms and their social context. As recommended by Feldman (1994) art criticism follows four chronological steps, namely, description, analysis, interpretation and judgement. Description involves describing what you see in the artwork including the „credit line‟ information. In the second step, students analyse how visual art elements such as colour, texture, shape are organised into principles of design such as balance, variety, harmony, rhythm and proportion (Ragans, 2000). Talking about art elements and principles of design develops students understanding of art as a means of visual communication (Lampert, 2006). Art Criticism uses several areas of Bloom‟s Taxonomy but also involves higher levels of thinking. The third step, interpretation focuses on the diagnosis of the artwork, to get its meaning while the last step, judgement, allows the viewers to examine whether the artwork is successful or not, looking at how the art elements were used. It also allows for personal feelings about an artwork, that is whether one likes or dislikes the piece of work, with justification to their choices. Eskine and Kozbelt (2015) view this stage as the critical judgement of specific artworks which allows viewers to look within themselves and ask why they like or dislike the piece of artwork. Choices can vary from one person to another since it allows for individual opinions about the artifact. Thus, involving children in this step will develop their critical, problem solving, self-reliant, self- esteem and creativity skills (Schabmann et al, 2015). Art History is described as the examination of the artists and art‟s contribution to the societies and cultures. Studying art history helps students to understand how visual communication has evolved overtime (Dash, 2006). It includes the authors of the works and information about the work itself. Students get to understand the artists themselves and the environment in which they functioned, the historical periods and unfolding of events in time and space. We get to understand the evolution of artistic styles and factors that influenced them (Bamford, 2006). Thus, art work provides a visual record of the socio-cultural changes over time, thus insights into the history of a people. It further provides valuable insights and information about the present. Art and culture cannot be separated from one another because both relates to the actions and continuation of a people (Mannathoko, 2013). As a result, art students need to study art history so that they get to understand how the artists understood their media, means of expression as well as the philosophical underpinning their practices. This leads to a better understanding of current practices which ideally are based on the history and how art evolved through time (Merwe, 2007). This kind of
  • 21. 18 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. methodology enables students to relate the past and the present and put their art and understanding of art in context and comparison. Art educationists have proven that art history relates to social studies as it helps us examine historical events through an artist‟s eyes. The discipline answers the following questions: Why was the artwork created? How was it used? and What was its purpose? Aesthetics on the other hand, deals with philosophical questions, questions that address the nature of art and the beauty of phenomena. It interrogates the notion of beauty and its relativity. It addresses the questions on our judgement of art, whether good or bad (Day and Hurwitz, 2012). We all react emotionally to artworks. The work of art can upset or excite us. Thus, our values, experiences and thoughts of beauty influence what we think about the art object. There are various activities that we can do with students that challenge their understanding of the aesthetic domain. They can be asked to define the subject and its nature. They should be asked to interrogate its nature and epistemological origins. They learn to differentiate art from what is not art. They identify art that belongs to the canon and why others cannot be similarly canonised. Historicised works of art are identified and studied in detail. In their philosophical inquiry, students make reference to socio-cultural factors that have an influence on art production. They examine beliefs and values that influence production and broaden their conceptual grasp of the nature of artistic expression. A critical dimension of aesthetics is that it enables students to appreciate art for its own sake without making reference to specific cultural performances as models of good aesthetics. It therefore removes those cultural barriers and limitations that could hinder them from an informed appreciation of art from the other. Through art criticism students develop the ability to justify their opinions and positions. Moreover, Aesthetics helps students realise what kind of art pleases most people. This is also helpful for them when decorating their homes and choosing clothes. Furthermore, critical skills are used in Aesthetics because questions such as; why one feels that way or why you came to a specific conclusion may arise. As a result, Aesthetics sometimes go hand-in-hand with Art Criticism. A number of people fail to differentiate aesthetics from art criticism. However both are important in the development of critical and reflective thinking. It is important to note that there is no one answer to a given question. Diverse answers are all important. What is important is the effort to work towards a solution. Such aesthetic interrogation is what is critical in the two disciplines of aesthetics and art criticism. To address or to find solution for the provided question is extremely significant. Thus, DBAE approach is designed to insure that all learners obtain an in-depth study of art (Dhillon, 2006). This framework has been proven through time and research therefore, it should be seriously considered by all the art teachers. Agosto (1993) in Dobbs (1993) shares conclusions drawn from various researchers on DBAE implementation. She says results revealed that students who approach their art from the DBAE are in a position to construct their own personalised knowledge as opposed to universalised knowledge. Their studio art is better informed and quality is generally better. They have a broader perspective in their approach to
  • 22. 19 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. art including their art and language comprehension and vocabularies which are significantly enhanced. As a result, having an in-depth understanding of art entails heightened abilities and capabilities to think critically, create, to write, to evaluate and value art products. Research Methodology The paper aimed at examining the extent to which Botswana primary school art curriculum and its pedagogical instruction addressed DBAE approach which is believed by most art educationists in the Western countries to be the most effective method of teaching and learning art. The study adopted a type of education research called „Action Research‟. The method is sometimes called „participatory action research‟ since it includes findings by performing actions. The method concentrates on a person carrying out findings with other people to reach a conclusion. Mills (2014) states that Action research in education is about investigating one‟s own practice in educational set ups. It involves gathering data on their own teaching and students learning in their particular contexts. This is linked to Dewey‟s, Harbermas‟ and Schon‟s reflective practice critical in the generation of self-knowledge. One can also investigate their operational environments from a broader perspective such as the school environment, resources and other factors that have a bearing on students learning outcomes and performances. The aim is to improve practice by the individual or participants in the given context. According to Brundrett and Rhodes (2014) the purpose of action research is to develop teacher researchers who are able to creatively solve everyday problems encountered in the school context for the improvement of their own teaching and students learning, improve curriculum and adapt instructional or assessment strategies. The study adopted the „Focus group‟ method of interview under qualitative research design. The decision to use focus group strategy was prompted by Stewart and Shamdasani‟s (1990) ideas of focus group process cited in Pickard (2007, p. 220). The aforementioned authors suggest the following situations in which focus group discussions can be used: obtaining general background information about a topic of interest; generating research hypotheses that can be submitted to further research and testing using more quantitative approaches; stimulating new ideas and creative concepts; diagnosing the potential for problems with a new program, service or product; generating impressions of products, programs, services institutions, or other products of interest; learning how respondents talk about a phenomenon of interest which may facilitate quantitative research tools and interpreting previously obtained qualitative results. Adopting and adapting Stewart and Shamdasani‟s (1990) advice, data was collected through engagement of participants in groups, to examine the CAPA syllabus specifically, the art component, in relation to DBAE framework. Participants were third-year in- service student-teachers who were pursuing their primary education degree in the University of Botswana as art education specialised. Thus, the study covered what was practised in rural and urban learning contexts of Botswana.
  • 23. 20 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. The geographical areas were sampled that way because students came from various regions of the country under different cultural context and hence a good representation of the study. I found it necessary to use this diverse and representative sample so as to adequately cater for diverse contexts from which the learners came from and teacher contexts articulating the CAPA curriculum and methodology. Such an approach is emphasised by Parlett and Hamilton (1972). The study was also informed by Paul Getty Trust‟s theory of Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE) which advocated for encompassing the four disciplinary categories for the purposes of teaching art. DBAE was introduced in America in the early 1980s. According to Phung and Fendler, (2015) the approach was designed to support a diminished emphasis on studio teaching and encouraged education across the four aforementioned art disciplines. In- service students-teachers from primary schools were found to be the most appropriate target group as they were practicing teachers who were implementers of the CAPA curriculum. Fifty-one (77%) of the participants held Diploma in Education as art specialists while fifteen (23%) were art education non-specialists teachers when pursuing diploma. The study focused on standard seven class as it is the highest level of learning in primary school therefore, having mature students who qualifies to a comprehensive art education advocated by DBAE approach. They were assigned to first identify the objectives which addressed DBAE approach and later categorise the selected objectives according to specific DBAE components believed to be relating to them. In addition, students were required to suggest activities which could be developed during planning and teaching processes to cater for the omitted DBAE disciplines. Prior to engaging students in the examination of the art education curriculum, they were engaged in an activity to share their experiences on how they implemented art modules within the CAPA syllabus. I called this group „Pre-Focus Group‟. Groups later presented their consolidated results which showed no evidence of having knowledge of DBAE framework. This prompted a formal class to introduce students to DBAE approach and later engaged them in a second group activity which I named „Post- Focus Group‟. At this stage, the case study student-teachers were required to apply what they learnt and hence check their understanding since they were in-service teachers who were expected to implement what they learnt to promote DBAE and hence making art education rich in all aspects of learning. The next stage involved group presentations of their „Post-Focus Group‟ findings and opinions to colleagues in class which led to common agreement as to which objectives in the curriculum addressed specific DBAE disciplines. Data was then consolidated so as to be disseminated to other academicians who may use information for development of art education in their institutions. The focus-group strategies followed to collect data were found to be very appropriate for this type of study as per Packard‟s (2007) advice that “focus group can be used at any point in the research design. During the early stages of an investigation focus groups can allow you to explore a topic, to establish just what the salient issues surrounding the topic are and what requires further investigation. Using „open‟ focus groups allows your research participants to
  • 24. 21 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. talk about the things that they feel are significant” (p. 220). As a result, the focus group method provided a useful guide to further studies as the results from the „Pre-Focus group prompted the next step which is teaching DBAE to student- teachers and assign them to examine the CAPA syllabus in relation to DBAE. The themes for discussion are centered around teacher competences in handling the DBAE curriculum and student learning activities in this curriculum model. Results In this section I present the results in two main categories as data from student- teachers is in two folds: „Pre-Focus Groups‟ where participants shared their teaching in art and „Post- Focus Groups‟ where they examined the art education modules in relation to DBAE framework. Pre-Focus Groups: Sharing Experiences in the Teaching of Art This section addresses the second research question which sought to find out the extent to which strategies and methodologies used in Botswana primary schools infuse aspects of DBAE as a curricula model. As aforementioned, student- teachers were engaged in „Pre-Focus Groups‟ to share their experiences of how they planned and taught art as a subject. This was after realising that the focus of the art education objectives was on „art production‟ and a bit of the other three, art history being the least covered after the study which prompted this research. This was to find out the extent to which DBAE approach was catered for during the implementation of the art curriculum. In terms of planning, participants said schemes of work were done at regional level. According to responses, all regions had teachers selected from schools to work together under the supervision of the Education Officers. They were tasked with coming up with a common scheme of work which could be used by all schools in a region for uniformity, since they had common mid-examinations. This according to the case study student- teachers involved just listing topics for a term so as to have common arrangement. They explained with concern that, not all teachers who were involved had knowledge of the subject and in some instances the whole team lacked knowledge and skills in all the CAPA subjects. When responding to approaches and methods of teaching art, all participants concurred that they followed what was dictated by the specific objectives. For example, if the objective required pupils to list art elements, they did exactly that since the examination questions were guided by the objectives. To check student- teachers‟ effort in making art education comprehensive, a guiding question was framed in the context of how student teachers made sure their teaching addressed the CAPA attainment targets and how they incorporated DBAE model into their teaching. All participants showed no knowledge of the two concepts „attainment targets‟ and „DBAE‟ approach although the CAPA syllabus stipulated „attainment targets‟ which informed the designed objectives for each discipline listed under CAPA subject. Feedback from student-teachers therefore, shows the need to help teachers understand the nature of art as a subject and introduce them to effective approaches to teaching and learning art, thus, equipping them with necessary skills and knowledge which can help produce pupils with comprehensive art education. Mannathoko
  • 25. 22 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. (2009) is of the view that if well implemented, DBAE strategy has the greatest aim of teaching art in its social, cultural, and historical context and it combines practical work with theoretical and contextual studies. She builds on the premise that art is best approached from an interdisciplinary/integrative mode of fusing the four DBAE disciplines, namely, art history, art criticism, art production and aesthetics. This approach gives a holistic means of learning as opposed to the fragmented and segmented approach. This philosophy of art according to Walling (2000) came as a follow up of Bruner‟s (1960) notion of giving students an understanding of the fundamental structure of art. The good thing about the strategy offered by DBAE to teach the arts using an integrated disciplines approach is that, it does not only change what most art teachers teach but also alters the view of the nature and value of art education. Having knowledge in DBAE therefore, could assist teachers to identify gaps in the art curriculum and come up with activities to biff the content. Thus, student-teachers were introduced to the model of DBAE after realising their lack of knowledge in the area. To check their understanding and preparing them for incorporation of the approach when going back to schools, students were later tasked to examine the CAPA syllabus specifically standard seven art education section in relation to DBAE. They were to identify objectives addressing DBAE disciplines and categorise them as shown in table 2 in the next section. Post-Focus Groups: Examination of the Art Education Objectives within the CAPA syllabus in relation to DBAE The task under this theme was also designed to respond to the first research question which was to investigate the extent to which upper primary art education objectives addressed DBAE. As aforementioned, student-teachers were tasked to examine the art education aspect of CAPA to identify objectives addressing DBAE components and categorise them as shown in table 1. In addition, students were required to suggest activities which pupils could be engaged in to close the identified gaps. Some of the suggestions were an extension of existing objectives while some were newly designed to cater for omitted disciples. I have extracted standard seven Art education general objectives listed in the CAPA syllabus and categorised them according to the DBAE disciplines they address. Thereafter, specific objectives designed by the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit (2005) which are stipulated in the CAPA syllabus were arranged according to the DBAE disciplines that they match and inserted in table 1. The general objectives as per the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Unit (2005) state that at the end of standard seven, learners should be able to: use art elements and principles in drawing (Art Production); develop skills and techniques of colour schemes (Art production); apply skills and techniques in batik making (Art production); apply skills and techniques in ornament making (Art production); develop skills and techniques in sculpture making by carving (Art production) and develop skills and techniques of sculpture making by construction (Art production). These results reveal that standard seven art education has six general objectives which are all advocating „art production‟ discipline. There is no evidence of emphasis on the other three disciplines namely; criticism, art history and aesthetics.
  • 26. 23 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table 1: Categories of Standard 7 Art Education Specific Objectives (from 2005 CAPA syllabus) according to DBAE Topic Art Criticism Art History Art Production Aesthetics Drawing (Art elements & principles) -Analyse art elements & principles in a given artwork. . N/A - Explore the use of art elements & principles in drawing. -Create a composition using art elements & principles. -Analyse art elements & principles in a given artwork. * - Explore the use of art elements & principles in drawing. * Painting (Colour schemes) -Recognise the use of colour schemes in an artwork. * N/A - Explore with colour schemes in painting. -Create a composition using a chosen colour scheme. -Recognise the use of colour schemes in an artwork. * 2-Dimensional Crafts (Batik) -Define batik. * Experiment with artificial & natural dyes in batik making. * -Experiment with artificial & natural dyes in batik making. -Explore the use of tools & materials in batik making. -Create a batik work such as scarf, skirt & wall hanging. -Experiment with artificial & natural dyes in batik making. * -Explore the use of tools & materials in batik making. * 3-Dimensional Crafts (Body ornaments) -Explain body ornaments. * -Identify types of ornaments. * -Explore different materials & techniques for making body ornaments. * -Make body ornaments using different materials. * -Decorate jewellery made from paper by painting & texturing. -Explore different materials & techniques for making body ornaments. -Make body ornaments using different materials. -Decorate jewellery made from paper by painting & texturing. * -Explore different materials & techniques for making body ornaments. * -Make body ornaments using different materials. * Sculpture (Carving) -Recognise examples of sculpture made by carving. Identify materials suitable for sculpture making by carving. * -Explore with tools, materials & techniques in sculpture making.by carving. -Create a sculpture -Recognise examples of sculpture made by carving. * -Explore with tools, materials &
  • 27. 24 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. by carving either in relief or in the round. techniques in sculpture making.by carving. * -Identify materials suitable for sculpture making by carving. * Construction -Explain mobile, relief & freestanding sculptures. * -Explore with tools, materials & techniques in sculpture making by construction. * -Explore with tools, materials & techniques in sculpture making by construction. -Construct a sculpture using appropriate materials & techniques. -Explore with tools, materials & techniques in sculpture making by construction. * Like the general objectives, specific objectives shown in Table 1 also show emphasis on the discipline of „art production‟ because from the 16 (55%) specific objectives identified as directly addressing DBAE from the overall total of 29, 15 (94%) were said to advocate art production while 1 (6%) focused on „art criticism‟. In addition, students identified 23 specific objectives which could be adopted to cater for the omitted disciplines. 6 (26%) of these objectives were attached to „art criticism‟, 5 (22%) to „art history‟ and 12 (52%) to „aesthetics‟. Examples of activities pupils could be engaged in to cover for the omitted objectives were suggested. It is important to note that some of these objectives were adopted from the already existing objectives under art criticism and art production in table 1 while some were newly identified from the syllabus and added to the table. Activities were designed to suit specific disciplines as shown in the examples below: This included „art history‟ under the topics „Drawing‟ and „Painting‟ as the discipline was not attached to any specific objective. Drawing & Painting under art history: Student-teachers were of the same view that drawing and painting media and techniques used in the past including purposes of the images created should be introduced to upper classes in primary schools to prepare them for „art history‟ courses at high education. Activities suggested included: introducing students to rock paintings; scratched wood work and branded leather work. The objectives under art criticism state that pupils should be able to talk about artwork and apply art elements and principles of design were said to can develop pupils‟ aesthetics skills because they will be exposed to various artworks and analysing them will help them understand the artists‟ intensions and hence appreciate the works which is „aesthetics. In addition, the findings further reveals that as pupils experiment with the visual elements which is an objective for „drawing‟ under „art production‟, they will incorporate ideas learnt when analysing art pieces and
  • 28. 25 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. hence showing appreciation of other artists‟ work which will result in the discipline of „aesthetics‟. Moreover, the objective which states that pupils should „recognise the use of colour schemes‟ in an artwork was adopted and adapted to suit „art criticism‟ and „aesthetics‟, the explanation being that before children use colour, they need to learn its importance and how it can communicate different expressions and reality and that knowledge can only be gained through discussion of artworks and hence pupils appreciating colours around them. Steers (2005) concurs with this idea that children understand art better if involved in art criticism. 2-Dimensional Crafts (Batik) The objective „Define batik‟ was placed under the discipline of „art criticism‟ with the justification that the definition of batik incorporate its processes therefore, for children to understand the technique, the teacher should bring a sample for them to discuss looking at how media and art elements were used in a design to address the design principles. This view too can also lead to the discipline of „aesthetics‟ as pupils will appreciate other designers‟ work and benefit from their ideas when creating their own work. Furthermore, „experimenting with improvised materials such as dyes from natural matter in fabric design which is an objective under „art production‟ in table 3, was said to can also address „art history‟ and „aesthetics‟ in the sense that discussion of artificial dyes will lead to talking about batik media and techniques used in the past such as boiling roots and leaves with colour to dye fabric for decoration purposes or to communicate a certain culture. Student-teachers said children will later on engage in the use of batik making tools and other materials. (Objective under art production) assuming that they will be allowed to explore both artificial and natural media and techniques and hence appreciate both of them which is „aesthetics‟. With respect to 3-Dimensional Crafts (Body ornaments); suggestions were made that objectives adopted for „art criticism „explain body ornaments‟ and „identify types of ornaments‟ could be covered by bringing different samples to class and asking pupils to identify materials used and explain the processes they think were followed to create the product. One of the student-teachers commented that the type or name of the ornaments is derived from the material used and gave an example of beads necklace that they are made from beads. As shown in table 3, the two objectives on exploration of materials and making of body ornaments using different materials were adopted from the discipline of „art production‟ to also cover „art history‟ and „aesthetics‟. Student-teachers suggested that under art history, pupils should be exposed to materials and techniques used in the past such as clay, snail shells and dry wild fruits beads so as to appreciate the work of ornament which evolved over time which informs the present. According to Mannathoko and Major (2013) exposing children to a variety of media develop their creativity skills and hence gain confidence in their creation of artwork. Sculpture (Carving): The objective „recognise examples of sculpture made by carving‟ was seen by student- teachers to can cover „art criticism‟ and „aesthetics‟ arguing that children can only be able to differentiate sculptures if engaged in an activity which allows for deeper understanding of their media and techniques and even their roles thus, resulting in appreciation which is aesthetics in art
  • 29. 26 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. perspective. They therefore, suggested that teachers could bring samples or take children for an art tour to a relevant art centre for them to critique sculptures having guiding questions or statements designed by the teacher to focus children on the activity. „Identifying materials suitable for sculpture making by carving‟ objective categorised under „art history‟ was said to can cover art history if children can be taught about the role of sculptures in the past, how they were created and media used then later given images of various sculptures both created in the past and contemporary ones to categorise according to „Traditional‟ and „Contemporary‟ sculptures. Examples were given as clay, wood, aluminium, plaster of paris and papier maché sculptures. Chanda (1993) has discussed types and roles of African sculptures in the past, giving an example of a small wooden human figure sculpture which was tied to women who had problems of giving birth. They were also other types buried in secret areas and honoured as they were believed to be ancestors with powers that could destroy the community and no one was allowed to go to the place or else disaster would be experienced by the whole community. Finally, students concurred that two objectives based on exploration of sculpture media and materials and the proper identification of such materials under „art history‟ was adopted to can also cover the discipline of „aesthetics‟ with the argument that as children understand sculpture of the past and explore various media and techniques, they will understand them broadly and appreciate sculpture created in different times and thus, developing aesthetics skills. Construction The objective „explain mobile, relief & freestanding sculptures‟ was believed if adopted could cater for „art criticism‟ with the justification that children can be exposed to the images or real sculptures and allowed to discuss them in terms of the media and techniques used to create each of the three types. The student who suggested the activity explained to colleagues that children will understand better if engaged in critiquing the sculptures rather than just explaining the concepts. With „art history‟ and „aesthetics‟, an objective on exploration of sculpture materials and tools was adopted from „art production‟ and students agreed that the two disciplines can be covered by an activity discussed under sculpture (carving) which advocate exposure of children to sculptures created over time and hence promote the discipline of „aesthetics‟. Educationists such as Lindstron (2007) and Bain (2004) advice educators to effectively engage children in all the four aspects of DBAE so as to produce citizens who are diverse and who can face all the challenges in life. Conclusions and Recommendations The document analysis data revealed that DBAE was not mentioned in the art education within the CAPA syllabus. Nevertheless, some of the general objectives and specific objectives linked well with the DBAE disciplines. The objectives emphasised the discipline of „Art Production‟ with less focus on „Art History‟. In addition, the „Pre-Focus Group‟ data has revealed that all the student-teachers lacked knowledge of DBAE framework as they have not been considering components of the DBAE when implementing art education modules within the CAPA syllabus. However, after being introduced to the approach, they showed a lot of understanding as they were able to identify the
  • 30. 27 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. objectives from the CAPA, matching DBAE disciplines and placed each at the relevant discipline. They further managed to come up with activities which could be implemented to cover for the omissions. The study therefore; recommends a further study to make a follow-up with students who were engaged in this project to see how far and how well they implement what they learnt in terms of DBAE framework. It would also be of benefit to the education system in Botswana to incorporate DBAE approach in the arts syllabus so as to guide teachers who could be lacking knowledge of this important approach to art teaching and learning. Thus, the intension is to organise a workshop for various education personnel to share with them the DBAE approach to teaching the arts. References Agosto, M. (retrieved from www.buffaloschools.org, 28 January, 2016). Comprehensive Discipline- Based Art Education. Buffalo: Art Education Department. Bain, c. (2004). Today‟s student teachers: prepared to teach versus suited to teach? The Journal of the National Art Education Association, 57 (3), 42 – 45. Bamford, a. (2006). The wow factor: global research compendium on the impact of the arts in education. New York: Waxman Münster. Brundrett and Rhodes (2014). Researching educational leadership and management: methods and approaches. London: Sage. Chanda, J. (1993). African arts and culture. massachutts: Davis publications. Chanda, J. and Basinger, A. M. (2000). Understanding the cultural meaning of selected African Ndop statues. The use of art history constructivist inquiry methods. Washington DC: Education resources information center. Curriculum Development and Evaluation Department (2002). Lower primary school syllabus, standard one to four. Gaborone: Ministry of Education. Curriculum Development and Evaluation Department (2005). Upper primary school syllabus, standard one to four. Gaborone: Ministry of Education. Dash, P. (2006). „Heritance, identity and belonging: African Caribbean students and art education.‟ The International Journal of Art and Design Education. 25 (3), 256 – 267. doi: 10.1111/j.1476- 8070.2006.00492.x. Day, T. and Hurtwiz, A. (2012). Children and their art: Art elementary and middle schools. Boston: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Dhillon, P. A. (2006). Aesthetics education. Urbana-Champaign: The university of Illinois Press. Dobbs, S.M. (1992). The DBAE handbook: An overview of the Discipline-Based Art Education. Los Angels: Getty Centre for Education in the Arts.
  • 31. 28 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Eskine, K.J. and Kozbelt, A. (2015). Art that moves: Exploring the embodied basis of art representation, production and evaluation. New York: Springer Science and Business Media Dordrecht. Feldman, E.B. (1994). Practical art criticism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Greer, W.D. (1993). Developments in Discipline-Based Art Education (DBAE): From art education towards art education. A Journal of Issues and Research. 34 (2), 91- 101. doi: 10.2307/1320446. Greene, T.P. et al, (2014). Arts education matters: We know, we measure it. Education week, 34 (13), 24. Hayes, P.A. (2015). High quality visual arts education k-8, the student, the principal and the teacher. Ann Arbor: Seattle Pacific University. Lampert, N. (2006). Critical thinking dispositions as an outcome of art education. A Journal of Issues and Research in Art Education, 47, (3), 215-228. doi: 10.2307/25475782. Lindstrom, L. (2007). Creativity: what is it? Can you assess it? Can it be taught? International Journal of Art & Design Education, (25) 1. doi: 10.1111/j.1476- 8070.2006.00468.x. Mannathoko, M.C. (2009). Interpreting the new lower primary art and craft component of the Creative and Performing Arts, the Botswana national curriculum. Case studies of four primary schools in the south central and central north regions. An illuminative evaluation. Cardiff: University of Wales Institute Cardiff. Mannathoko, M.C. and Major, T.E. (2013). An illuminative evaluation on practical art, craft and design instruction: The case of Botswana. International Journal of High Education, 2 (3), 54-61. doi:10.5430/ijhe.v2n3p54. Mannathoko, M.C. (2013). Community involvement in the teaching and learning of arts and culture in primary schools: A case of four primary schools in Botswana. International Review of Social Sciences and Humanities, 5 (2), 19-27. Mannathoko, M.C. (2015). Why the arts are not part of the examination family: The case of Botswana primary schools. International Journal of Scientific Research and Education, 3(12), 4736-4746. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18535/ijsre/v3i12.10. Merwe, L. (2007). Assessment in the learning area of arts and culture. A South African perspective. The Journal of Research in Teacher Education, 14 (2), 51-68. Mills, G.E. (ed) (2014). Action research: a guide for the teacher researcher. Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Parlett, M. and Hamilton, D. (1972). Evaluation as illumination: A new approach to the study of innovatory programmes. Scotland: University of Edinburgh. Phibion, O,S. (2006). Botswana primary school teachers‟ perception on the introduction of the creative and performing arts (CAPA). A case of Lobatse town (urban) and Tlokweng village (semi- urban) schools. Gaborone: University of Botswana.
  • 32. 29 © 2016 The author and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Phung, T. and Fendler, L. (2015). A critique of knowledge-based arts education: Ars gracia through ranciére‟s aesthetics. Journal of Education, 3, (1), 177-191. Phuthego, M. (2007). An evaluation of the indigenous musical arts in the creative and performing arts syllabus and the implementation thereof in the primary schools curriculum in Botswana. Unpublished Dmusic thesis. Pretoria: University of Pretoria. Pickard, A.J. (2007). Research methods in information. London:Facet Publishing. Ragans, R. (ed) (2000). Art talk. Ohio: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. Republic of Botswana, (1993). Report of the national commission on education. Gaborone: Government printers. Republic of Botswana, (1994). The revised national policy on education. Gaborone: Government printers. Schabmann et al (2015). Where does it come from? Developmental aspects of art appreciation. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 1-11. doi: 10.1177/0165025415573642 Steers, J. (2005). Orthodox, creativity and opportunity. International Journal of Art & Design Education, 25 (3), 297 – 307. Walling, D.R. (2000). Rethinking: How art is taught – A critical convergence. California: Corwin Press, Inc. Wright, C. (1995). Subject combinations and time-tabling for basic education in Botswana. Gaborone: Ministry of Education.
  • 33. 30 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 30-41, January 2016 Inclusive Education and Challenges of Providing Classroom Support to Students with Blindness in a General Education Classroom at a School in Botswana Joseph Habulezi University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana Odiretsemang Molao Central Regional Education Office, Serowe, Botswana Sandy Mphuting Kgalagadi Regional Education Office, Kang, Botswana Kebotlositswe Mark Kebotlositswe Molefi Senior Secondary School, Mochudi, Botswana Abstract. The research investigated classroom support provision and the challenges of providing support to students who are blind in a general education classroom at an inclusive secondary school in Botswana. Interviews, observation and questionnaires were used to collect the data. The challenges of providing classroom assistance to students who are blind in general education Biology classrooms are as diverse as the students themselves. The teaching methods some teachers use do not cater for all the students in an inclusive classroom. The main factors leading to this include lack of adequate preparation and shortage of both human and material resources. The class enrolments pose a challenge because the classrooms are over enrolled. The study recommends that special education Biology teachers be increased at the school and more learning support workers equally be hired. Teacher capacity building should also be considered as well as the acquisition of more access technology. Keywords: Classroom support; blindness; Botswana; challenges. 1. Introduction Botswana has committed itself to achieving full inclusion in education to both maximise the potential of its people for the future development of the country and to fully comply with the international requirements for human and educational rights. This is because the country views education, (Christie, 2010,
  • 34. 31 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. UNESCO, 1994, 2001, 2008, 2009), a basic human right. In its positive efforts to fulfil its commitment, the government of Botswana through the Ministry of Education and Skills Development formulated a guiding mission statement; to provide efficient, quality, and relevant education and training that is accessible to all. Consequently, in 2011, an inclusive education policy was launched and implemented. The implementation of inclusive education, though, has faced some challenges. Despite all the efforts to cater for all students equitably, students with blindness at a senior secondary school in Kgatleng District in Botswana are academically performing poorly. This study, therefore, investigated the challenges of providing classroom support to students with blindness in a Biology class. The research aimed at establishing the underlying challenges of providing assistance to students with blindness in a general education Biology classroom at a secondary school in Kgatleng District in Botswana. Basing on the findings, the study suggested solutions to overcoming the challenges. Overleaf is a table showing an extract of the performance of the students in reference in their final form five results from the school. For ethical reasons, the names of students have been replaced with letters. Botswana uses the points system in which a distinction, ‘A’ is 8 points, ‘B’ is 7 points, ‘C’ is 6 points, ‘D’ is 5 points, ‘E’ is 4 points while ‘F’, ‘G’ and ‘U’ attract no points.
  • 35. 32 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. Table 1.1 Performance of students with visual impairment in the 2014 BGCSE examinationsStudentname Englishlanguage Setswana Mathematics ScienceDoubleAward Chemistry Physics Biology History Geography SocialStudies LiteratureinEnglish ReligiousEducation Art Commerce Pointsattained A E C C DD D B C C 36 B D C C D D E D B C 35 C C D F DD C E 31 D D D D DD C D E E 31 E G C E EE D B 30 F C E E FF E D D 28 G E C F GG E E C F 24 H G D G GG E D C E 24 I E D U GG D D D 24 J E D U GG C F C F 21 K E D G UU E E E 17 L E D U UU U G B 16 M G E U UU U U C G 10 N F F U UU G F G 0 O F F U UU U F U 0 BGCSE-Botswana general certificate of secondary education Source: Special Education Department, 2015 The trend of the results above prompted this research to find out the challenges of providing classroom support to students with blindness in a general education Biology class at a school in Botswana. Providing support to students who are blind remains a challenge in general education classrooms and these challenges vary as some lie with the teachers, while others lie with the students. Students who are visually impaired have unique learning needs that must be addressed in order for these students to become independent and productive citizens of the society. It is against this back drop that today the family and educational institutions face a significant challenge in providing services that will enhance the positive academic outcomes for such students. One cannot over emphasis the fact
  • 36. 33 © 2016 The authors and IJLTER.ORG. All rights reserved. that making appropriate decisions about students who are blind requires clear understanding of their unique learning needs and interventions. 2. Classroom support Classroom support mainly provides assistance to teachers during classroom activities. Sharma et al (2010) emphasise that when students who are blind are included in the classroom, it allows the mainstream teacher receive the much needed assistance in the teaching of the needy students. Support basically refers to resources and strategies that promote a student’s development, education, interests and personal well-being in the classroom (Mphande, 2011). The support offered needs to align with the teaching and learning methods the mainstream class teacher uses for all the students to benefit academically (Abbott, 2014). This environment should start with the attitude of school administrators towards the inclusion of the students who are blind. The administrator’s attitude influences the attitude of others, therefore creating acceptance or rejection. The administrators should not only establish a school based support team and encourage collaboration but also be active members of the team. Other members of the team like learning support workers must be made available to increase support in the classroom. In addition, classroom support can be provided by specialist teachers who would support general education teachers during lessons or they can co-teach. Travers et al (2014) warn that the organisation and management of additional support for students require on-going monitoring and review to evaluate its effectiveness. The support provided by learning support workers should be importantly aiding the development of independence in the students. In the classrooms, the students who are blind should be availed opportunities to learn like any other student. Firstly, the trained special education teacher should assist students in the development of the sense of touch and use of other senses in order to respond positively to situations. Williams (2015) and Fraser (2015) recommend that the students who are blind should not be treated as passive observers any more but must be involved actively in all the lessons. Greater concept realisation and increased interest for students can only be realised if the students are valued and given opportunities like all other students. Piljl and Van den Bos (2001) advise that teachers should talk while they teach and verbalise notes as they write legibly on the board. Delors (1996), Witburn (2014) and William (2015) add that the use of verbal commentary, use of hands on experience, sensitive questioning, explanations and descriptions can bring alive the abstract material of some subject areas. In addition, students with blindness should be strategically positioned to maximise their potential visually or auditory. Students who are blind cannot fully access the curriculum if modifications and adaptations are not considered. It is therefore important to consider the abilities of students in any given subject and content. Nasib (2005) asserts that changes to the syllabi, content or period of a course can be changed to cater for students’ impairment in line with their abilities. Access technology simplifies and aids in most of the operations of supporting the students’ learning in inclusive education.