IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v41y2015icp60-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Islanders’ educational choice: Determinants of the students’ performance in the Cambridge International Certificate Exams in the Republic of Maldives

Author

Listed:
  • Yamada, Shoko
  • Fujikawa, Kiyoshi
  • Pangeni, Krishna P.

Abstract

This paper is based on the analysis of a questionnaire survey with teachers and 10th-grade students who took the Cambridge Ordinary Level (O-level) and national secondary school certificate (SSC) examinations in mathematics, English, and Divehi language in the Republic of Maldives. A total of 517 students and 60 subject teachers from eight schools took part in this survey, and the responses from students were matched up with their examination scores in three subjects. The primary objective of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the students’ performance in three subjects. Based on that, it considers the implications of employing an international examination system to certify students of the national education system in Maldives. Because of the limited capacity in running a mass education system, this small island state uses an externally-developed examination system for many years. However, the study reveals that the students’ performance in O-level exams largely depends on the households’ socio-economic conditions and learning environment at home. Factors related to teachers and teaching–learning processes in school do not have much impact. While the government is reforming the curriculum to be more learner-centered and relevant to the national context, the externally-developed exams conflict with such drive for nationalization and widen the gap of educational outcomes among students with and without extra support from the family.

Suggested Citation

  • Yamada, Shoko & Fujikawa, Kiyoshi & Pangeni, Krishna P., 2015. "Islanders’ educational choice: Determinants of the students’ performance in the Cambridge International Certificate Exams in the Republic of Maldives," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 60-69.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:41:y:2015:i:c:p:60-69
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059315000024
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2015.01.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beutel, Ann M & Axinn, William G, 2002. "Gender, Social Change, and Educational Attainment," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 51(1), pages 109-134, October.
    2. Jimenez, Emmanuel & Lockheed, Marlaine E & Paqueo, Vicente, 1991. "The Relative Efficiency of Private and Public Schools in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 6(2), pages 205-218, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tahir Andrabi & Jishnu Das & Asim Ijaz Khwaja & Tristan Zajonc, 2011. "Do Value-Added Estimates Add Value? Accounting for Learning Dynamics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(3), pages 29-54, July.
    2. Chen, Yuanyuan & Feng, Shuaizhang & Han, Yujie, 2020. "The effect of primary school type on the high school opportunities of migrant children in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 325-338.
    3. Kasper Brandt, 2018. "Private beats public: A flexible value-added model with Tanzanian school switchers," WIDER Working Paper Series 81, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Sharma, Sabal & Levinson, David, 2019. "Travel cost and dropout from secondary schools in Nepal," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 385-397.
    5. Pal, Sarmistha & Saha, Bibhas, 2014. "In 'Trusts' We Trust: Socially Motivated Private Schools in Nepal," IZA Discussion Papers 8270, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Harold Alderman & Peter F. Orazem & Elizabeth M. Paterno, 2001. "School Quality, School Cost, and the Public/Private School Choices of Low-Income Households in Pakistan," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 36(2), pages 304-326.
    7. Sundaram, Aparna & Vanneman, Reeve, 2008. "Gender Differentials in Literacy in India: The Intriguing Relationship with Women's Labor Force Participation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 128-143, January.
    8. M J Mancebón & M A Muñiz, 2008. "Private versus public high schools in Spain: disentangling managerial and programme efficiencies," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 59(7), pages 892-901, July.
    9. Sarah Brauner-Otto, 2013. "Attitudes About Children and Fertility Limitation Behavior," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(1), pages 1-24, February.
    10. Behrman, Jere R., 1996. "Measuring the effectiveness of schooling policies in developing countries: Revisiting issues of methodology," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 345-364, October.
    11. Sarah R. Brauner-Otto & William G. Axinn & Dirgha J. Ghimire, 2020. "Parents’ Marital Quality and Children’s Transition to Adulthood," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(1), pages 195-220, February.
    12. Jimenez, Emmanuel & DEC, 1994. "Human and physical infrastructure : public investment and pricing policies in developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1281, The World Bank.
    13. Joshua Angrist & Eric Bettinger & Erik Bloom & Elizabeth King & Michael Kremer, 2002. "Vouchers for Private Schooling in Colombia: Evidence from a Randomized Natural Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1535-1558, December.
    14. Bai, Yunli & Guo, Yuhe & Li, Shaoping & Liu, Chengfang & Zhang, Linxiu, 2021. "The Long-Term Benefits of Preschool Education: Evidence from Rural China," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315364, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    15. Alleiddine Ayed Zambaa & Lobna Ben Hassen, 2013. "Education Financing And Growth Using An Overlapping Generations Model: A Theoretical Perspective," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 58(197), pages 7-22, April – J.
    16. Appleton, Simon, "undated". "User Fees, Expenditure Restructuring and Voucher Systems in Education," WIDER Working Papers 295459, United Nations University, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    17. Mottaleb, Khondoker Abdul & Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Pallegedara, Asankha, 2019. "Spending privately for education in Nepal. Who spends more on it and why?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 39-47.
    18. Mohamad Fahmi, 2009. "School Choice and Earnings: A Case of Indonesia," Working Papers in Economics and Development Studies (WoPEDS) 200914, Department of Economics, Padjadjaran University, revised Sep 2009.
    19. M-J Mancebón & J Calero & Á Choi & D P Ximénez-de-Embún, 2012. "The efficiency of public and publicly subsidized high schools in Spain: Evidence from PISA-2006," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 63(11), pages 1516-1533, November.
    20. Janakumaran Nair Retnakumar & Perianayagam Arokiasamy, 2006. "Explaining School Enrolment Trends in Kerala, India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 1(2), pages 231-248, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:41:y:2015:i:c:p:60-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-development .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.