Wagner, Daniel A

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  • Publication
    Pro-Poor Approaches to Using Technology for Human Development: Monitoring and Evaluation Perspectives
    (2009-01-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    I am pleased to be able to contribute a chapter to this volume that honors the work of Çiğdem Kağitçibaşi. In my view, Dr. Kağitçibaşi's work is unique in that it approaches, in significant and creative ways, the intersection of the science of human development with the potential of practical benefits for children and families. This may sound easy, and even obvious – but it is not. The field of child and human development has often evidenced a high though largely impreceptible wall between science and practice. That wall is even higher when cultural and international perspectives are taken into account. That is, when cross-cultural and cross-national dimensions of any phenomenon are taken into consideration, it is most often to confirm (or deny) the validity of some "universal" theory. Kağitçibaşi is one of the few scholars who has not only drawn our attention to the ethnocentric nature of simplistic theory-testing, but has tried, in her seminal work, to promote bridges that will translate theory into the practice (and vice versa) of improving children's lives. She has charted new ground consistently on a professional voyage that has allowed her to become one of the most recognized of development psychologists worldwide – which she richly deserves. The present chapter picks up on one of Kağitçibaşi's continuing themes, namely, that of how to meet the needs of poor children and youth, and understand impacts derived from interventions.
  • Publication
    Basic Skills in Adult Education and the Digital Divide
    (2000-01-01) Ginsburg, Lynda; Sabatini, John; Wagner, Daniel A
    Traditionally, basic adult education has had a particular concern with the skills of literacy and numeracy, seeing these as essential for entry to the world of work. Adult education teachers may therefore be reluctant to adopt ICT, unsure of the part it should play, and worried about the time it takes away from the development of these basic skills. As we enter the 21st century, however, ICT has already become a necessary and important component of adult education. Formal and non-formal education are being delivered at a distance via technology — particularly the Internet — with the promise that learning can take place at any time and in any place.
  • Publication
    Introduction to ICT and Learning: Supporting Out-of-School Youth and Adults
    (2006-01-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Sweet, Richard
    In attempting to raise levels of educational achievement and attainment, countries will obtain the greatest increase in overall national performance if they raise the performance of the lowest achievers and of those with the lowest level of qualifications. These are the groups whose improvement will make the greatest difference to the national average. Policies that specifically target low achievers and those with few formal qualifications have a special relevance to two groups outside the education system: youth who have dropped out of school without having completed a secondary education qualification, and low-skilled adults. The pressures for public policy to focus on these groups come from many sources. Equity, both within and between nations, is a powerful motive. But there are also strong economic pressures to raise the educational performance of low-skilled adults and out-of-school youth. In OECD countries with ageing populations, the prospect of a shrinking labour force leads policy makers to seek ways to increase the supply of labour, and to improve overall educational performance through raising the skills of the existing workforce. These pressures intensify as countries seek to compete in the global economy on the basis of the quality of their human capital.
  • Publication
    IT and Education for the Poorest of the Poor: Constraints, Possibilities, and Principles
    (2001-07-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    Long before the term "Digital Divide" became a common term to describe gaps between the rich and poor in the effective access and use of information technology (IT), most policy makers, researchers and practitioners could at least agree on one thing: Reaching the poorest of the poor was going to be the most difficult of challenges.
  • Publication
    Information Technologies and Education for the Poor in Africa: Recommendations for a Pro-Poor ICT4D Non-Formal Education Policy
    (2004-05-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Day, Bob; Sun, Joseph S
    More than half of Africa's youth and adults do not have basic literacy skills and/or have not completed primary or secondary school. It is deeply concerning how little serious attention has been paid to the potential ways in which ICT can enhance such skills, as part of a pro-poor model of ICT for Development (ICT4D). Such work is crucial if the goals of Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are to be achieved. The present effort, "Information Technologies and Education for the Poor in Africa" (ITEPA), is designed to focus attention on what is being and has been attempted in this domain in some of the poorest communities in Africa.
  • Publication
    Literacy Assessment Practices (LAP) in Selected Developing Countries: Analytic Review of Four LAP Country Case Studies
    (2002-04-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    The present paper provides an analytic review of four country case studies that were prepared for the Literacy Assessment Practices (LAP) project, undertaken jointly by the International Literacy Institute (ILI) and UNESCO, in collaboration with UIS and UIE. This report attempts to provide a summary of key issues, as well as to identify lessons learned and areas that are in need of further investigation. Examples are drawn from the four cases in the light of the present context of the field of adult literacy, and various conclusions and new directions are drawn from this material. Overall, in the context for both the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for All and the 2000 Dakar World Education Forum, it is concluded that substantial new work will need to be done not only to meet the target goals of the EFA initiative, but even to know with credibility how far along the path to these goals nations have traveled. Thus, the LAP studY, and work that may follow from it, may well serve as stepping stones toward promoting systematic assessment of progress towards achieving the universal goal of a more literate and equitable world.
  • Publication
    Literacy and Adult Education: Thematic Studies
    (2000-04-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    The 1990 World Conference on Education for All (WCEFA) in Jomtien, Thailand, included adult literacy as one of its six major worldwide goals. Although the complete elimination of illiteracy by the year 2000 was adopted as a goal of UNESCO and a significant number of its Member States in the Udaipur Declaration of two decades ago, the Jomtien Conference scaled back such promises, and chose a more modest, and theoretically achievable, goal of cutting illiteracy rates in half by the year 2000. The reasons for this reduction in targeted goal were numerous. As this report describes, important gains have been made in literacy and adult education over the decade since Jomtien – in various places and using various methods – but the overall literacy situation remains one of the major concerns of the twenty-first century.
  • Publication
    Literacy, Technological Literacy, and the Digital Divide
    (2000-05-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    The United Nations estimates that there are one billion illiterate adults in the world today (about one-quarter of the world's adult population), the vast majority of whom are located in the poorest half of the world. Furthermore, recent surveys suggest that this situation is even more serious than previously believed. Industrialized (OECD) countries now admit to having very serious problems of their own in literacy and basic skills, with up to 25% of adults considered to be lacking the basic skills needed to function effectively in the workforce (see OECD/Statistics Canada, 1995; Tuijnman et al., 1997).
  • Publication
    New Technologies for Adult Literacy and International Development
    (2009-01-01) Wagner, Daniel A
    Few areas of social and economic development have received as much attention and as few proportionate resources as adult literacy. Across the world – in both industrialized and developing countries alike – it is widely acknowledged that at most, 5 percent of national education budgets is spent on the roughly 50 percent of the adult population in need of increased literacy skills. For several centuries, it has been variously claimed that literacy – a key (if not the key) product of schooling – would lead to economic growth, social stability, a democratic way of life, and other social 'good things.' Detailed historical reviews have not been so kind to such generalizations (see several chapters in Wagner, Venezky & Street, 1999; also UNESCO, 2005), in that literacy 'campaigns,' in particular, were often more politically inspired than practically implemented (Wagner, 1986). General notions of national economic growth have been said to have a similar set of positive consequences for the poor. However, both universal literacy and universal economic growth have suffered from what has been called at times 'development fatigue' – namely, that governments and international agencies have come to feel that significant toil and funding have led to only limited return on investment.