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THE AUTHORS CONTENTION IN THIS ARTICLE IS THAT IN SPITE OF A RANGE OF POST-POSITIVIST DEVELOPMENTS IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (IR), THE DISCIPLINE REMAINS FIXATED ON POINTING OUT THE CRUCIAL ROLE NORMS PLAY IN THEIR GLOBAL PRACTICES AND IN THEIR PRACTICES AS SOCIAL SCIENTISTS. IR THEORISTS HAVE YET TO ENGAGE WITH NORMATIVE THEORY PROPERLY SO CALLED. IR THEORISTS, LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE, SEEK TO ADVANCE CERTAIN POLICIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AS ETHICALLY SUPERIOR TO OTHER POSSIBLE POLICIES. BUT FOR THE MOST PART THEIR ETHICAL STANCES ARE CONCEALED UNDER A DISGUISE OF SCIENTIFIC OBJECTIVITY.

This paper presents key findings from Young Lives school survey in Ethiopia conducted in 2009–10, contextualised by cross-sectional evidence from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey. The findings suggest that educational exclusion operates through complex mechanisms which conspire to limit the access opportunities of disadvantaged children during the course of the education life-cycle. Exclusion is associated with family ill-health, poverty, livelihood and labour demands, gender-related constraints, geographical context, and lack of parental education and support. Notwithstanding recent improvements in educational access and teacher training, unequal opportunities will not be adequately addressed if these patterns of disadvantage remain unchanged. Large numbers of children, especially in rural areas, enter education late, are frequently absent from school, and drop out early. The most common reason given for boys' absenteeism and drop-out is their involvement in paid or unpaid domestic/agricultural work, whereas for girls the most common reason is the need to care for younger siblings. Some schools have adopted innovative policies to deal with such problems, including flexible hours to reduce seasonal absenteeism, and shift-schooling to enable children with family responsibilities to attend school more often. The report endorses the value of decision-making autonomy at school level, but also emphasises the need for improved standard setting and resourcing from central government: while the majority of schools in the survey sample had written a school-improvement plan and had drawn up a budget, fewer than half reported having enough funding to implement their plan. The implementation of such plans will be an important test for the effectiveness of the government's General Education Quality Improvement Programme (GEQIP).

This paper informs debates about the potential role for low-fee private schooling in achieving Education for All goals in India. It reports Young Lives' longitudinal data for two cohorts (2,906 children) in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Eight year olds uptake of private schooling increased from 24 per cent (children born in 1994-5) to 44 per cent (children born in 2001-2). Children from rural areas, lower socioeconomic backgrounds and girls continue to be under represented. While some access gaps decreased, the gender gap seems to be widening. Evidence on risks to equity strengthen the case for an effectively regulated private sector, along with reforms to government sector schools.