79945 BURKINA FASO│SCHOOL AUTONOMY & ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT │April 2012 BURKINA FASO SABER Country Report SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY 2012 Policy Goals Status 1. School Autonomy in the Planning and Management of the School Budget Currently public primary schools in Burkina Faso have no autonomy over salary and non-salary expenditures. Since 2009, successive decrees have transferred the authority over the school budget from the national to the commune level. However, budget authority has not been transferred to the school level. 2. School Autonomy in Personnel Management A decree has transferred autonomy over human resource management to the communes, which can now appoint teachers. School directors are nominated by the local education office and approved by the commune mayor. 3. Role of the School Council in School Governance The School Council can discuss how to use funds raised on its own. However, according to the decree that established the Parent’s Association (APE) in 1987, it is not expected to participate in the preparation of the school budgets, nor to approve or implement them. Preparation of the school budgets is centrally managed and the budgets are then transferred from the central to the regional, municipal, and local levels. 4. School and Student Assessment School assessments are conducted by Basic Education Circle (CEB) inspectors. There are both non-standardized assessments at the end of each semester and standardized assessments which serve as certified examinations for specific grades. 5. Accountability A national and regional system analyzes standardized assessments and shares the results at the regional, local, and municipal levels. The School Council has no authority to perform financial audits. THE WORLD BANK BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Burkina Faso has been rapidly decentralizing its education Burkina Faso has dramatically improved the gross system since 2004. Although the Parents’ Association enrolment rate for primary education, from 42 percent (APE) is defined as the School Council in this report due to in 1999 to 75 percent in 2009 (UNESCO 2009). Chiche its nationwide coverage, the government initiated efforts and others (2010) found that the primary completion to establish school management committees (Comités de rate (PCR) rose from 19 percent to roughly 40 percent Gestion, or COGES) in 2008 as a platform for all local over a 15 year period between 1991 and 2006. stakeholders to be engaged in school management. According to this source, previous low completion rates in basic education were due to internal inefficiency, Budgetary autonomy is latent in the school system. seen in high repetition and dropout rates. Currently public primary schools in Burkina Faso have no Table 2. Educational Expenditure Indicators, 2009 autonomy over salary and non-salary expenditures. By contrast, autonomy in personnel management is Public education expenditures: established, having been delegated to the commune level as % of GDP (2007) 4.8 in 2009. The role of the School Council in school as % of total government expenditure (2007) 21.8 governance is also latent; it has no authority to participate Distribution of public expenditure per level (%) in budget formulation or execution. School and student Pre-primary 0.0 assessment is emerging: standardized tests are Primary 66.0 implemented in specific grades, with the results analyzed Secondary 21.0 by the Ministry of National Education and Literacy and Tertiary 11.0 shared with its regional, municipal, and local offices. Others 2.0 Finally, accountability is latent. There is a national and Public expenditure per pupil as a % of GDP per 29.0 regional system to analyze standardized assessments, yet capita (primary education, 2007–2010) the School Council has received no guidelines on how to Source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics; Ed Stats. use assessment results. Neither does the Council have the authority to be involved in financial audits. The government spent 4.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and 21.8 percent of its budget on education in 2007 (Table 2). Primary education received Education in Burkina Faso 66 percent of these funds, while secondary education received 21 percent. According to EdStats, public Education in Burkina Faso is regulated by the Education expenditure per primary pupil as a percentage of GDP Orientation Law 13 of 2007. The formal education system per capita is 29 percent in the country, which ranks is on a 6-4-3 basis in terms of years of education in sixth among the top ten countries with the highest primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary school share of per capita GDP per primary student. Yet the (Table 1).Primary education is under the authority of the primary net enrollment rate in Burkina Faso is only 63 Ministry of National Education and Literacy (MENA), which percent, the lowest among these ten countries with the coordinates deconcentrated offices in 13 regions, 45 exception of Niger. Program on the Analysis of provinces, and 367 districts through the Regional Education Systems (French acronym, PASEC) data also Directorate for Basic Education and Literacy (DREBA), shows that between 1996 and 2007, student Provincial Directorate for Basic Education and Literacy achievement levels in Burkina Faso decreased (DPEBA), and Basic Education Circles (CEB), respectively. significantly, especially in both math and French in second grade. Table 1. Burkina Faso school system structure With the aim of addressing management bottlenecks Age Grade Level of education and contributing to the increased efficiency of public 3–5 Pre-elementary Pre-primary resource use, education decentralization in Burkina 6–11 1–6 Primary Faso has made rapid progress since the Code Général 12–15 7–10 Lower secondary des Collectivités Territoriales (CGCT) was set up in 2004. 16–18 11–13 Upper secondary This code gave significant powers to the communes in 19–22 14–17 Undergraduate various sectors. Following CGCT, a decree to establish 23+ 18+ Graduate studies Source: UNESCO 2010 school management committees (French acronym, 2 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 COGES) passed in 2008 and beginning in 2009, a series making most managerial decisions, frequently in of policy documents was adopted to accelerate the partnership with parents and the community. More transfer of budgetary and personnel autonomy to the local control helps create better conditions for communes. improving student learning in a sustainable way, since it gives teachers and parents more opportunities to One objective of Burkina Faso’s ten-year (2000–2009) develop common goals, increase their mutual basic education development plan (French acronym, commitment to student learning, and promote more PDDEB) is building the capacity to lead, manage, and efficient use of scarce school resources. School-based assess centralized and decentralized education sector management also fosters a new social contract between structures, as well as the ability to coordinate external parents and teachers by improving communication and assistance. The objectives of the second phase of increasing local cooperation and accountability. PDDEB (2008–2010) included strengthening sector management and monitoring in the context of To be effective, school autonomy must function on the decentralized basic education services. More attention basis of compatible incentives, taking into account was paid to quality and management issues in this plan, national education policies, including incentives for the and coverage was expanded in line with the Education implementation of those policies. Moreover, having more Orientation Law of 2007 (Chiche and others 2010). managerial responsibilities at the school level automatically implies that a school must also be The Case for School Autonomy and School accountable to local stakeholders as well as national and Accountability local authorities. The empirical evidence from education systems in which schools enjoy managerial autonomy is School autonomy and accountability are key that autonomy is beneficial for restoring the social components of an education system that ensure contract between parents and schools and instrumental in educational quality. The transfer of core managerial setting in motion policies to improve student learning. responsibilities to schools promotes local accountability; helps reflect local priorities, values, and The experience of high-performing countries—as needs; and gives teachers the opportunity to establish a measured by their performance on international personal commitment to students and their parents assessments such as the Programme for International (figure. 1). Benchmarking and monitoring indicators of Student Assessment (PISA)—indicates that: school autonomy and accountability allow Burkina Faso • Education systems in which schools have more to rapidly assess its education system, setting the stage autonomy over teaching content and student for improving policy planning and implementation. assessment tend to perform better. • Education systems in which schools have more autonomy over resource allocation and that publish test results perform better than schools with less autonomy. • Education systems in which many schools compete for students do not systematically score higher on PISA. • Education systems with standardized student assessment tend to do better than those without such assessments. • PISA scores among schools with students from different social backgrounds differ less in Source: Arcia and others 2011. Note: EMIS – education management information system. education systems that use standardized student assessments than in systems that do not. School autonomy is a form of a decentralized education system in which school personnel are in charge of 3 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 As of now, the empirical evidence from countries that The results of the benchmarking exercise for primary have implemented school autonomy suggests that a schools in Burkina Faso are shown below. certain set of policies and practices are effective in fostering managerial autonomy, assessment of results, 1. School autonomy in the planning and and the use of assessments to promote accountability. management of the school budget is Latent Benchmarking the policy intent of these variables can The objective of this indicator is to determine the be very useful for any country interested in improving degree of autonomy that schools have in planning and the performance of its education system. managing their budgets. In order to evaluate policy intent, the scoring rubric makes clear which areas should be backed by laws, regulations, and/or official Burkina Faso’s Performance: A Summary of rules in the public record. School autonomy in the Results from a Benchmarking Exercise planning and management of the school budget is considered desirable because it can increase the There are five policy goals for school autonomy and efficiency of financial resources, give schools more accountability. These are the main indicators that can flexibility in budget management, and give parents the help benchmark an education system’s policies that opportunity to have more voice on budget planning and enable school autonomy and accountability: execution. 1. School autonomy in the planning and management of the school budget Currently public primary schools in Burkina Faso have 2. School autonomy in personnel management no autonomy over operational budgets and the salaries 3. Role of the School Council in school governance of teachers and non-teaching staff. CGCT in 2004 gave 4. School and student assessments significant powers to the municipalities; several decrees 5. Accountability to consolidate this code have been promulgated since 2009. The budget funds delegated to communes Each of these indicators has a set of sub-indicators that includes funds for school construction; maintenance; make it possible to judge how far along an education consumables for students, classrooms, and teachers system’s policies are in enabling school autonomy and (e.g., stationary goods). However, budget authority has accountability. Each indicator and sub-indicator is not transferred to the school level. scored on the basis of its status and the results classified as Latent, Emerging, Established, or Advanced: 1. School Autonomy in the Planning and Management of School Budgets is Latent Latent Emerging Established Advanced     Indicator Score Justification Emerging Legal management Reflects policy Reflects Reflects good Reflects 1A. Legal authority not in place or some good practice, with international  authority over the over management limited practice; still some best practice operational budget was of the operational engagement in progress limitations delegated to the commune budget level in 2009. A Latent score signifies that the policy behind the 1B. Legal authority Latent Non-teaching staff and indicator is not yet in place or that there is limited over the  teacher’s salaries are engagement in developing the related education policy. management of determined by the central An Emerging score indicates that the policy in place non-teaching staff government’s salary scale. reflects some good practice but that policy and teacher’s salaries development is still in progress. An Established score 1C. Legal authority Latent School budget is indicates that the program or policy reflects good practice and meets the minimum standards but there to raise additional  transferred from central funds for the government to CEB and may be some limitations in its content and scope. An school the communes. Funds Advanced score indicates that the program or policy raised by Parents’ reflects best practice and it can be considered on par Association (APE) are not with international standards. included in school budgets. 4 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 2. School autonomy in personnel management is 2. School Autonomy in Personnel Management is Established Established Indicator Score Justification This indicator measures policy intent in the 2A. School Established A 2009 decree transferred management of school personnel, which includes the autonomy in  autonomy over human principal, teachers, and non-teaching staff. Appointing teacher resources in primary and deploying teachers can be centralized at the level of appointment education to the communes. the Ministry of Education or it can be the responsibility and Teachers are deployed of regional or municipal governments. Only in deployment through the deconcentrated completely decentralized education systems do schools decisions organizations of DREBA, DPEBA, and CEB. School have autonomy in teacher hiring and firing decisions. directors have no autonomy Budgetary autonomy includes giving schools over teacher appointment responsibility for negotiating and setting the salaries of and deployment decisions. its teaching and non-teaching staff and using monetary Emerging Stakeholders, including the 2B. School and non-monetary bonuses as rewards for good Council’s role  APE, can request the performance. In centralized systems teachers are paid in teacher transfer of a teacher, but the directly by the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of tenure, final decision is the Finance under union or civil service agreements. As a transfer, or responsibility of the result, in centralized systems schools have less influence removal respective regional or local over teacher performance because they have no government. financial leverage over teachers. Inversely, if a school 2C. Established CEB nominates candidates negotiates teachers’ salaries, as private schools Autonomy in  for school director and routinely do, it may be able to motivate teachers the hiring and commune mayors approve directly with rewards for a job well done. firing of them. However, the firing of A 2009 decree stated that autonomy over human principals school directors is done not resources in primary education was transferred to the by the communes, but by the central government. communes. Thus as a policy intention, teachers can be Note: DREBA – Regional Directorate for Basic Education and Literacy; appointed by the communes, though the decree DPEBA – Provincial Directorate for Basic Education and Literacy; mentions human resources in general without specific CEB – Basic Education Circles. administrative procedures or budget allocations. Teachers are deployed by CEB. In terms of school directors, CEB nominates candidates and commune mayors approve them. 5 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 3. Role of the School Council in school 3D. Role of the Latent The APE has no legal governance is Latent School Council in  role in the budget implementation of The participation of the School Council in school implementation school budgets. administration is very important because it enables 3E. Use of the Latent The APE is not parents to exercise their real power as clients of the budget prepared  expected to participate education system. If the council has to cosign with the School in the preparation of payments, it automatically has purchasing power. The Council's school budgets. participation use of a detailed operational manual is extremely important in this area, since it allows Council members 4. School and student assessment is Emerging to adequately monitor school management performance, help the principal with cash flow School assessments can have a big impact on school decisions, and become a catalyst for seeking additional performance because they force parents and teachers funds from the community. The use of such manuals to agree on scoring rules and ways of keeping track of by the School Council is thus a good vehicle for assessment scores. Measuring student achievement is promoting increased accountability and another important way to determine if a school is institutionalizing autonomy. effective in improving learning. A key aspect of school autonomy is the regular measurement of student The APE can discuss how to use funds that it raises on learning, with the intent of using results to inform its own, however, according to the decree that parents and society and make adjustments to established APE in 1987, the body is not expected to managerial and pedagogical practices. Without regular participate in the preparation of the school budget, assessment of learning outcomes, school accountability nor approve or implement it. The preparation of the is reduced and, as a consequence, improving school budget is centrally managed and the school educational quality becomes less certain. budget is transferred from the central to the regional, municipal, and local levels. Inspectors of the CEB conduct school assessments; however, the results are used internally and are not 3. Participation of the School Council in School Finance is Latent made public. Regarding student assessments, there are Indicator Score Justification both non-standardized assessments at the end of each semester and standardized assessments that serve as 3A. Participation of The APE is not certified examinations in specific grades, such as the the School Council Latent expected to participate in budget in the preparation of exams known by the French acronyms CEP, BEPC, and  preparation school budgets. BAC. The results of standardized assessments are shared with inspectors at the regional, municipal, and 3B. School Latent The APE is not Council's authority  expected to participate local levels and also made public. The Ministry of to approve the in the preparation or National Education and Literacy (MENA) also conducts a school budget the approval of school national assessment of learning achievement using budgets. national representative samples in order to assess student performance. 3C. Manual for the Latent The decree that participation of the  established APE in School Council in 1987 defined its role as school finances advisory, with supportive functions. The decree did not state that the body was expected to participate in the preparation of school budgets. 6 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 4. School and Student Assessment is Emerging 5. Accountability is Latent Indicator Score Justification Accountability is at the heart of school-based 4A. Existence Emerging CEB inspectors conduct management. The systemic connection between and frequency  school assessments. budgetary and personnel autonomy, parent of school and Student assessments participation in the financial and operational aspects of student include non-standardized a school, and the measurement of learning outcomes assessments tests at the end of each are all aimed to reinforce accountability. Only by being semester and exit accountable to parents can educational quality be examinations such as the sustainable. The following indicators below address CEP in specific grades aspects of accountability that can be implemented every year. within the framework of school-based management. 4B. Use of Emerging CEB inspectors conduct school  school assessments; Burkina Faso has a national and regional system for assessments however, the results are analyzing standardized assessments such as the CEP and for making used internally and are not school made public. MENA sharing the results with the regional, municipal, and adjustments conducts analysis of local levels. Results of standardized assessments are student assessments. The made public. With respect to financial accountability, information is shared by the APE has no authority to perform a financial audit. inspectors at the regional 5. Accountability is Latent and local/municipal levels Indicator Score Justification for pedagogical reflection. Latent 5A. Guidelines for Results of student 4C. Frequency Advanced There are exit the use of school  assessments are made of standardized  examinations in specific and student public, but school student grades, such as the CEP assessments by assessments are only assessments (grade 6), BEPC (grade 10), the School Council available to educational BAC (grade 13), every authorities, not the APE. year. These exams target Established 5B. National or MENA analyzes all students in the  regional systems standardized respective grades in the of educational assessments such as the country. In addition, there assessments CEP; it shares the results is a national assessment of with the regional, learning achievement municipal, and local using national levels. In that sense, representative samples. national and regional 4D. Use of Emerging MENA conducts analysis of systems of educational student  student assessments. This assessments exist, and assessments information is shared by their results are used. for pedagogical inspectors at the regional, Emerging 5C. Comparisons Regarding standardized and personnel municipal, and local levels of school and  assessments such as the adjustments for pedagogical reflection. student CEP, comparisons are 4E. Publication Emerging The results of student performance made among different of school and  assessments such as the reports types of schools, regions, student CEP are made public, but and previous years. assessments those of school Latent 5D. School Council The APE has no authority assessments are only authority to  to perform financial available to educational perform financial audits. authorities. audits 5E. Manual for Latent The APE has no authority participation of  to perform financial School Council in audits. school audits 7 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 From Analysis to Action: Policy Options for Burkina Faso Burkina Faso has made rapid progress in decentralizing 3. Consolidate personnel autonomy at the local its education system. The establishment of school level management committees in 2008 and the delegation of Personnel autonomy, which has been transferred to budgetary autonomy to the communes have accelerated the communes, could be consolidated to a greater this progress. Improving school autonomy and degree via detailed administrative guidelines and accountability would help the country consolidate its budgetary allocations to the communes. These decentralization policies. The results of the mechanisms would build direct accountability benchmarking of school autonomy and accountability between local authorities and teachers and non- policies indicate the following areas for potential change: teaching staff. 1. Promote the spread of school management 4. strengthen the role of COGES in school committees (COGES) as a new platform for governance local stakeholders COGES could have more voice in the planning and Although this report defines the Parents’ Association preparation of the school budget. A school action plan (APE) as the School Council due to its national coverage, developed and approved by parents and community the APE has limitations and COGES have been members could be the basis of the planning and established as a new, wider platform for local preparation of school budgets. Participation of COGES stakeholders in the management of schools. Thus, it is in school governance could be complemented by giving important to promote the spread of COGES as intended schools authority over their school budgets. by the policy. 5. Disseminate more assessment information in 2. Give schools more budgetary autonomy to order to strengthen accountability manage their financial resources A national and regional system exists to analyze Although budgetary autonomy has been delegated to standardized assessments and share the results with the communes, schools could have more autonomy regional and local education inspectors. It is essential over the school budgets. School directors have more for schools and parents to be informed of these results contacts with local authorities, the CEB, and the APE, so so as to understand school rankings and plan future they can perform an important role in coordinating with actions in terms of enhancing both access and quality of these stakeholders in consultation with COGES. education. The CEB could support schools and parents in the analysis of test scores and school performance. 8 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 Acknowledgments Ouedraogo, Senior Education Specialist, Africa Region; Ebihara Tomoko, staff member, JICA Burkina Faso; This report was prepared by Harry Anthony Patrinos, Nakazawa Junko, Chief Advisor, PACOGES Project, Lead Education Economist; Kazuro Shibuya, Senior Burkina Faso. The data cited are based on reviews of Education Specialist; Gustavo Arcia, consultant; with official laws, regulations, decrees, and other policy inputs from Dr. Lankonde Gountiéni Damien, Research documents. The views expressed here are those of the Coordinator, Centre d'Études de Documentation et de authors and should not be attributed to the World Bank Récherche Économiques et Sociales (CEDRES), and Group. For a description of the school autonomy and Dr.Yuki Takako and her research team at the JICA accountability scale of the SABER Initiative, see Research Institute. It was reviewed by Adama http://go.worldbank.org/BW7VX42UK0. References Arcia, G., K. Macdonald, H. A. Patrinos, and E. Porta. Vachon, P. 2007. “Country Case Studies: Burkina Faso.� 2011. “School Autonomy and Accountability.� Background paper for EFA Global Monitoring Report System Assessment and Benchmarking for Education 2008. UNESCO, Paris. Results (SABER) Initiative. Human Development Network, World Bank, Washington, DC. World Bank. 2007. “Burkina Faso: Réussir la Décentralisation.� Report #38377-BF. World Bank, Chiche, M., E. Duret, C. O’Brien, and S. Bayala. 2010. Washington, DC. “Mid-Term Evaluation of the EFA Fast Track Initiative; Country Case Study: Burkina Faso.� ———. 2009. “Program Document on a Proposed Cambridge Education, Cambridge, UK. Grant from the Education for All Catalytic Fund to Burkina Faso for the First Basic Education Program De Grauwe, A., and C. Lugaz. 2007. “Décentralisation de Support Grant.� EFA FTI Secretariat, World Bank, l'Éducation en Afrique Francophone de l'Ouest Washington, DC. Réalités et Défis au Niveau Local.� International Review of Education 53: 613–38. ———.. 2010. “Les Défis du Système Educatif Burkinabe en Appui à la Croissance Économique.� UNESCO. 2009. “Education Profile: Burkina Faso.� World Bank, Washington, DC. UNESCO, Paris. http://stats.uis.unesco.org/ unesco/TableViewer/document.aspx?ReportId World Bank. n.d. EdStats. Education Statistics Database. =121&IF_Language=eng&BR_Country=8540&BR “The State of Education—Expenditure.� http:// Region=40540. web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXT EDUCATION/EXTDATASTATISTICS/EXTEDSTATS/0,,c ———. 2010. World Data on Education 2010/11: ontentMDK:21528857~menuPK:4324013~pagePK:6 Burkina Faso. UNESCO, Paris. http://www.ibe. 4168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:3232764,00.ht unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/WDE/2 ml?expenditure 010/pdf-versions/Burkina_Faso.pdf. 9 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS BURKINA FASO ǀ SCHOOL AUTONOMY AND ACCOUNTABILITY SABER COUNTRY REPORT |2012 www.worldbank.org/education/saber The Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) initiative produces comparative data and knowledge on education policies and institutions, with the aim of helping countries systematically strengthen their education systems. SABER evaluates the quality of education policies against evidence-based global standards, using new diagnostic tools and detailed policy data. The SABER country reports give all parties with a stake in educational results—from administrators, teachers, and parents to policymakers and business people— an accessible, objective snapshot showing how well the policies of their country's education system are oriented toward ensuring that all children and youth learn. This report focuses specifically on policies in the area of School Autonomy and Accountability. This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. THE WORLD BANK 10 SYSTEMS APPROACH FOR BETTER EDUCATION RESULTS