School Effectiveness in Developing Countries - A Summary of the Research Evidence

Nevertheless, Lockheed & Verspoor (1991) regard preschools as a 'promising avenue'
for improving learning achievement, and draw attention to the role of preprimary
education in combating poverty, for example in Latin America. Targeting preprimary
education on specific underprivileged groups can help towards greater equity by
reducing differences between different groups of students on entry to primary school.
Conversely, however, pre-schools can act to increase performance differences if they are
available mainly to children of relatively wealthy parents.

2.4 School physical facilities

Although buildings, furniture and equipment accounted for almost 30% of aid for
primary education in the period 1981-86 (Lockheed & Verspoor, 1991) there is
relatively little research evidence on the effects of school physical facilities in
developing countries. Surprisingly, Lockheed & Verspoor do not focus on this topic,
although they advocate the use of local materials, and mention that 'building latrines is
another strategy that might increase enrollment, particularly of girls' (p 155). However
they argue that priorities differ among countries and 'while providing textbooks is of the
utmost urgency for some countries, upgrading the physical plant is more important for
others' (p217).

There is some empirical research evidence. Mwamwenda & Mwamwenda (1987) found
that availability of classrooms, desks, seats and books all produce a significantly better
performance in Standard 7 examinations in Botswana. They argue that this research
supports the argument that school facilities are integral to academic achievement, unlike
studies carried out in the West suggesting that school facilities have no impact on
achievement.

Urwick & Junaidu (1991) are critical of aspects of the methodology of the Botswana
study, and conducted a qualitative study of Nigerian primary schools. Their findings
'illustrate the existence of multiple links between the quality of school facilities and a
number of educational process variables which are widely considered to be important
determinants of the quality of schooling'. Firstly, they found that four aspects of teaching
(the extent to which teaching methods were pupil-centred, the variety of activities
organized during lessons, the variety of methods of communication used during lessons,
and the frequency with which assignments and homework were set) were affected by the
provision of textbooks, teaching aids, writing materials and furniture. A second group of
classroom learning conditions was the time required for learning activities to take place,
orderliness and ease of movement in the classroom, pupil attentiveness, and pupils'
opportunities for developing reading and writing skills. These were affected by many
aspects of the school facilities: ancillary services such as first aid, toilets, water supply,
classroom maintenance, textbook and furniture availability, space. Thirdly, effects were
noted for three school variables: breadth of the basic curriculum, the range of co-

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