Person:
Nomura, Shinsaku

Education Global Practice

Fields of Specialization

Economics of education

Departments

Education Global Practice

Last updated: November 11, 2024

Biography

Shinsaku Nomura is a Senior Economist at the Education Global Practice in the World Bank. He has worked in countries in Middle East and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia regions. In South Asia, he has managed projects of basic and secondary education, early childhood education, and skills development in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. He has also led analytical projects such as big data labor market analytics, learning assessments, impact evaluations, and economic and financial analyses. He received a PhD in Economics from the Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University, Japan.

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 14

Assistive Technologies for Children with Disabilities in Inclusive and Special Schools in Indonesia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2023-09-25) Hata, Anna; Wang, Han; Yuwono, Joko; Nomura, Shinsaku
This empirical study of the Indonesian context aims to rigorously examine availability and usage of AT for children with disabilities. It reviews key challenges and support needed in both inclusive and special schools, focusing on teachers in primary and secondary education in Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT). Key questions included: 1) What is the availability and use of AT for students with disabilities in schools in Indonesia? 2) In what ways can teachers, schools, and local and national stakeholders work together to promote equitable and quality learning through AT for children with disabilities? To answer these questions, this study employed a mixed method to enhance the validity and quality of evidence based analysis of AT for children with disabilities in Indonesia, including a national level teacher survey with over 2,000 teachers who participated voluntarily, focus group discussions with teachers, school principals and policy makers as well as an international review of practices on AT for children with disabilities to address the lack of previous studies in Indonesia.
Learning in the Shadow of the Pandemic: COVID-19 Learning Loss and Widening Learning Disparities in Indonesia
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-11-11) Hata, Anna; Kim, Seil; Nomura, Shinsaku
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated school closures led to significant learning disruption around the world (Patrinos, 2023; Schady et al, 2023), and there is a need to understand the relationship between this disruption and student learning outcomes in Indonesia. This study builds on a recent World Bank report, and aims to conduct a rigorous and comprehensive analysis of associated factors related to learning loss and disparity in Indonesia. This study draws on empirical data including both students’ individual characteristics and structural factors such as governmental support related to the pandemic, school-based management and teacher quality. This study employed surveys from 2019 and 2023 to estimate the learning loss among 6,693 primary school students following the COVID-19 school closures. Additionally, it identified school and individual factors that promoted improvement in student learning during the pandemic. It found that students examined in March 2023 experienced a learning loss of 0.265 standard deviations in language (equivalent to approximately 10.6 months) and 0.276 standard deviations in math (11 months), compared to same-aged students in 2019. This study reveals increased disparity in learning outcomes across different groups. Students with lower socioeconomic status (SES) experienced larger learning losses than others. The poorest 20 percent of households experienced approximately two years of learning loss in both language and math, and students with less educated parents suffered from greater learning losses, including up to two years in language. Pre-existing gender and regional gaps in learning outcomes persisted during the pandemic, with boys underperforming girls, and rural schools underperforming urban schools in both 2019 and 2023.
Embracing Diversity and Inclusion in Indonesian Schools: Challenges and Policy Options for the Future of Inclusive Education
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-01) Hata, Anna; Yuwono, Joko; Purwana, Ruwiyati; Nomura, Shinsaku
Today, children with disabilities continue to be one of the most disadvantaged social groups and experience barriers to access and full participation in education in Indonesia. This policy note reviews the current status of Inclusive Education (IE) in Indonesia with dedicated attention to children with disabilities, focusing on school facilities and environment, teacher competency, and governance and service delivery. This study used focus group discussions to understand stakeholder perspectives in the implementation of IE, in addition to an extensive review of policy frameworks and IE practices in Indonesia and international good practices. This policy note finds that while the government has made progress on establishing policy framework for IE, the implementation of IE faces significant challenges. IE has not been fully mainstreamed into the education system due to limited legal and financial responsibilities and coordination at national, local and school levels. There is a strong need for improved accessibility and quality of inclusive schools, teacher and staff training, and increased administrative capacity. Limited cross-sectoral collaboration can prevent children with disabilities from appropriate learning and smooth school transitions, but this issue could have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 (coronavirus). This policy note provides policy recommendations in three strategic areas including access and equity of IE, quality of teaching and learning, and improved governance and ecosystem of service delivery. It is indispensable to ensure equitable access to inclusive schools in every sub-district/city in every education level. Teacher training and support mechanisms in IE is needed for all teachers, thus providing an opportunity to understand what inclusion is. Improved coordination, budget allocation, capacity building should happen across different levels of administration, providing better opportunities for children with disabilities.
Toward Labor Market Policy 2.0: The Potential for Using Online Job-Portal Big Data to Inform Labor Market Policies in India
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-02) Imaizumi, Saori; Nomura, Shinsaku; Areias, Ana Carolina; Yamauchi, Futoshi
Economists and other social scientists are increasingly using big data analytics to address longstanding economic questions and complement existing information sources. Big data produced by online platforms can yield a wealth of diverse, highly granular, multidimensional information with a variety of potential applications. This paper examines how online job-portal data can be used as a basis for policy-relevant research in the fields of labor economics and workforce skills development, through an empirical analysis of information generated by Babajob, an online Indian job portal. The analysis highlights five key areas where online job-portal data can contribute to the development of labor market policies and analytical knowledge: (i) labor market monitoring and analysis; (ii) assessing demand for workforce skills; (iii) observing job-search behavior and improving skills matching; (iv) predictive analysis of skills demand; and (v) experimental studies. The unique nature of the data produced by online job-search portals allows for the application of diverse analytical methodologies, including descriptive data analysis, time-series analysis, text analysis, predictive analysis, and transactional data analysis. This paper is intended to contribute to the academic literature and the development of public policies. It contributes to the literature on labor economics through application of big data analytics to real-world data. The analysis also provides a unique case study on labor market data analytics in a developing-country context in South Asia. Finally, the report examines the potential for using big data to improve the design and implementation of labor market policies and promote demand-driven skills development.
Teacher Practices in Indonesia: Results of the Teach Primary Classroom Observation Study
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-09-13) Dini, Indah; Kim, Seil; Nomura, Shinsaku
Teach Primary (Teach) is a classroom observation tool developed by the World Bank that has been used in over 30 middle income countries across the world. It captures the quality of teaching practices by measuring (i) time on task: the time teachers spend on learning and the extent to which students are on task, and (ii) the quality of teaching practices measured by three primary areas: Classroom Culture, Instruction, and Socio-emotional Skills. The tool underwent a rigorous development and validation process which has met the appropriate psychometric criteria of reliability. As part of the Time on Task component, three “snapshots” of 1–10 seconds are used to record both the teacher’s actions and the number of students who are on task throughout the observation. The quality of teaching practices is evaluated in three areas: Classroom Culture, Instruction, and Socio-emotional Skills. These areas have nine corresponding elements that point to twenty-eight behaviors. The behaviors are characterized as low, medium, or high, based on the evidence observed in this classroom. These preliminary scores are translated into a five-point scale, which quantifies the teacher’s practices as captured in two, 15-minute observations. This study employs Teach to investigate the current landscape of teaching practices in Indonesia.
Improving Toilet Hygiene and Handwashing Practices During and Post-COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesian Schools
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Afkar, Rythia; Kumala, Citra; Nomura, Shinsaku; Afkar, Rythia
This policy note examines a rapid situation analysis of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities in Indonesian schools using quantitative and qualitative data, including a review of relevant regulations. It discusses policy implications related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic response and its implications for achieving universal access to basic WASH facilities in schools by 2030, under the Sustainable Development Goals. It is found that 8 percent of MoECRT schools and 20 percent of MoRA primary schools have no functional toilets for students. The average number of toilets, 58 students to 1 toilet in primary schools, is not up to the international standards of 25:1 ratio. Twenty-two percent of MoECRT schools have no access to water and 47 percent reported no soap nor running water. The policy note also identifies 4 areas of policy gaps and corresponding recommendations to respond to the current situation and its causes.
Reflections of Employers' Gender Preferences in Job Ads in India: An Analysis of Online Job Portal Data
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03) Chowdhury, Afra R.; Areias, Ana C.; Imaizumi, Saori; Nomura, Shinsaku; Yamauchi, Futoshi
Using online job portal data and probabilistic regression estimations, the paper investigates the explicit gender bias and salary gap in the Indian job market, reflected in more than 800,000 job recruitment advertisements. Exploring formal and informal sector occupations, the study finds high existence of employers' gender bias in hiring. Explicit gender preferences are highly job specific, and it is common to mention the preferred gender in job ads, which, in general, favor men over women. Although ads for professional occupations exhibit less explicit gender bias, they are not gender neutral. In all types of professional jobs, irrespective of the share of ads with preference for men or women, on average, ads targeting men specify/offer much higher salary. Employers in elementary sectors as well as blue-collar jobs express more segregated gender preference. The findings support the existing research that argues women are more preferred in low-quality, low-status, typically low-paid informal jobs. Targeting women for low-quality jobs explains half of the mean offered salary gap specified in ads; the rest is direct gender bias. The paper also suggests that, with the rise of new technology and sectors, gender bias in hiring in those new types of jobs is expected to decline.
The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms: Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-05) Adhikari, Samik; Nomura, Shinsaku
Many employers and employees believe that non-cognitive skills are an important contributor to labor market success. This study has assessed the empirical evidence for such a claim in the case of Bangladesh by evaluating unique employer-employee matched labor market data. The analysis is based on data collected from 6,981 workers in 500 formal sector firms in Bangladesh's five largest formal economic sectors. Using ordinary least squares and firm fixed-effect models, the study assesses correlations between wages and the so-called "big five" personality traits, and augments the analysis with the latent personality scores captured by the Rasch model. Comparing the ordinary least squares and fixed-effect models reveals statistically significant correlations between personality traits and wages, within and across firms. The results appear to indicate that non-cognitive skills are correlated with a worker's likelihood of achieving success in the labor market. Although many of the findings are consistent with the literature, the analysis reveals specific patterns that appear to be unique to Bangladesh, including a positive correlation between “emotional stability” and wages and a negative correlation between "grit" and wages, especially among manufacturing workers. Differences across firms could indicate that firms that offer higher wages may tend to attract workers with distinct types of non-cognitive skills, whereas differences within firms may indicate that variations in non-cognitive skills are associated with disparities in firm-level wage structures. Correlations between wages and personality traits are more prominent among large firms than among small or medium-sized firms.
Labor Market Analysis Using Big Data: The Case of a Pakistani Online Job Portal
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11) Matsuda, Norihiko; Ahmed, Tutan; Nomura, Shinsaku
Facing a youth bulge—a large influx of a young labor force—the Pakistani economy needs to create more jobs by taking advantage of this relatively well-educated young labor force. Yet, the educated young labor force suffers a higher unemployment rate, and there is a concern that the current education and training system in the country does not respond to skill demands in the private sector. This paper provides new descriptives about labor markets, particularly skill demand and supply, by using online job portal data. The paper finds that although there is an excess supply of highly educated workers, certain industries, such as information and communications technology, lack workers who have specialized skills and experience. The analysis also finds that the exact match of qualifications and skills is important for employers. Job applicants who are underqualified or overqualified for job posts are less likely to be shortlisted than those whose qualifications exactly match job requirements.
Ready to Learn: Before School, In School, and Beyond School in South Asia
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-02-19) Beteille, Tara; Tognatta, Namrata; Riboud, Michelle; Nomura, Shinsaku; Ghorpade, Yashodhan
Countries that have sustained rapid growth over decades have typically had a strong public commitment to expanding education as well as to improving learning outcomes. South Asian countries have made considerable progress in expanding access to primary and secondary schooling, with countries having achieved near-universal enrollment of the primary-school-age cohort (ages 6–11), except for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Secondary enrollment shows an upward trend as well. Beyond school, many more people have access to skill-improving opportunities and higher education today. Although governments have consistently pursued policies to expand access, a prominent feature of the region has been the role played by non-state actors—private nonprofit and for-profit entities—in expanding access at every level of education. Though learning levels remain low, countries in the region have shown a strong commitment to improving learning. All countries in South Asia have taken the first step, which is to assess learning outcomes regularly. Since 2010, there has been a rapid increase in the number of large-scale student learning assessments conducted in the region. But to use the findings of these assessments to improve schooling, countries must build their capacity to design assessments and analyze and use findings to inform policy.