Dr Shuang Chen

This course is available on the MSc in International Social and Public Policy, MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Development), MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Education), MSc in International Social and Public Policy (LSE and Fudan), MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Migration), MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Non-Governmental Organisations) and MSc in International Social and Public Policy (Research). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course explores the causes and consequences of educational inequality and the role of policies in the Global South. The course will examine issues and policy debates from diverse contexts through an international and comparative lens, drawing on theories and evidence from multidisciplinary research (e.g., education, international development, economics, sociology, politics, and demography).

The course will start by introducing a conceptual framework describing how factors on the micro- and macro-levels, globally and locally, in and outside the education system, interact to shape educational inequality. The rest of the course will engage with a specific issue each week by applying the conceptual framework, considering the theoretical and empirical evidence, and analysing real-world cases and debates. Example issues include poverty and education, the global education expansion, women’s education and development, ethnicity and indigenous education, EdTech, education of migrant children, education in conflict and emergencies, etc. Specific issues covered will vary each year.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the WT.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the WT.

• Buchmann, C., & Hannum, E. (2001). Education and stratification in developing countries: A review of theories and research. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 77–102.
• Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2010). The politics and economics of comparison. Comparative Education Review, 54(3), 323-342.
• Mundy, K., Green, A., Lingard, B., & Verger, A. (Eds.). (2016). Handbook of global education policy. John Wiley & Sons.
• Glewwe, P., & Muralidharan, K. (2016). Improving education outcomes in developing countries: Evidence, knowledge gaps, and policy implications. In Handbook of the Economics of Education (Vol. 5, pp. 653-743). Elsevier.

Essay (90%, 3000 words) in the ST.
Class participation (10%) in the WT.