The Local Fabrication of School Statistics

Based on 12 months of ethnographic research in a primary school in rural Benin in 2012/13 and 2014, this paper focuses on the “little arrangements” organised around the local fabrication of school statistics which arise from the interaction between demands at international level, and strategies give...

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Vydáno v:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/anthropodev,
Hlavní autor: Fichtner, Sarah
Médium: Article ou chapitre numérique
Jazyk:Anglais
Vydáno: Anthropologie & développement 2019
On-line přístup:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
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Shrnutí:Based on 12 months of ethnographic research in a primary school in rural Benin in 2012/13 and 2014, this paper focuses on the “little arrangements” organised around the local fabrication of school statistics which arise from the interaction between demands at international level, and strategies given room for manoeuvre at local level. Based on two key variables central to international policies of Education For All, namely school enrolment and repetition rates, this study shows how the actors involved in the school arena represent, govern and “do the school” through the production of these numbers. The data demonstrates that school statistics reflect the results of micro-political strategies to enhance budget allocation and school reputation, and reflect the bureaucratic (self) control of the actors involved, rather than being reliable instruments that can inform or measure macro policies of development.