Establishing evaluation indicators on the population knowledge,attitudes, practices and skills (KAPS) of secondary school teachers and students in the Philippines

This study was conducted to establish evaluation indicators to be used as a basis in evaluating the integration of the population education program (POPED) of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports within the Philippine 2ndary school curriculum. Questionnaires were used to determine existing knowledge, attitude, practice and skills (KAPS) of 3,136 high school students and 490 teachers, and data was analyzed for significant relationships between KAPS concerning POPED and demographic characteristics, exposure to population information sources, type of school attended, and exposure to POPED. KAPS and teaching method determine KAPS of the student. Data indicate that 81% of teachers had integrated POPED into the curriculum; only 19% of these had attended training on POPED. 93% utilized a lecture-discussion method in teaching POPED. Knowledge tests given to students and teachers were the same, covering demography, family size, age at marriage, responsible parenthood, use-effectiveness of methods, and population and development. Teachers performed better than students in questions on knowledge; on attitude statements teachers showed a slightly more favorable attitude towards POPED issues, most favorable to responsible parenthood, and least favorable to age at marriage. Mean preferred age at marriage (25) and mean desired number of children (3) was the same for teachers and students; teachers desired wider child spacing than students (3.3 years vs. 2.7 years). 84% of teachers used or wanted to use a family planning method, 76% of students felt they would use a method after marriage. Factors useful in predicting KAPS of teachers and students on POPED are: region of residence, age, sex, educational level, marital status, grade average, type of school, and exposure to various sources of POPED information.     

Teachers are students in ZPG program called 'Pop Ed.'

Zero Population Growth's Population Education (Pop Ed) program began in 1975 as an ongoing effort to bring the "real world" into the classroom by demonstrating the relationships among population trends, food and energy resources, and environmental and economic problems. The training workshops which last for a day or 2 have the following goals: 1) to offer a brief demographic overview for teachers, 2) to provide lesson plans and techniques readily usable in the classroom, 3) to alert teachers to the best written and audiovisual materials available, 4) to identify local resources for teaching Pop Ed, and 5) to provide sample materials. In the 1st year of program operation 10 workshops were held. These workshops are credited, at least partly, with the subsequent population instruction that reached over 10,400 students and 1600 teachers. Another 15 workshops were held in the 2nd year of operation. Obstacles to the program are the assumption on the part of some teachers that Pop Ed belongs in disciplines other than their own and the belief on the part of many teachers that they will require extensive training.     

Population education: a life experience course for the young

The Philippines is the 1st country to adopt an extensive population education program at an early stage of its national population program. Population education is a "life experience" course with the following 5 areas of study: 1) demography, 2) determinants of population growth, 3) consequences of population growth, 4) human sexuality and reproduction, and 5) planning for the future. Many institutions in the Philippines are teaching the course materials and training teachers for the course. Difficulties encountered in initiating the course are: 1) lack of administrative support, 2) lack of cooperation from conservative parents, and 3) an overcrowded curriculum. It has been decided to integrate the aspects of this course into existing areas of the curriculum. Topics for future research in population are outlined. Use of the research was also covered.     

The participation of non-governmental organizations in the Philippine population program

In 1957 the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) established the Family Welfare Center, offering an educational program in family planning; it was subsequently expanded and reorganized into the Planned Parenthood Movement of the Philippines. Since its creation in 1970 the Philippine Population Program has brought together government, private, and religious activities. Under the 1987-92 development plan nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will be taking a more active role in the implementation of the population program by contributing to the maternal and child health/family planning and the information, education, and communication (IEC) components. There are more than 50 private organizations engaged in such population activities. These include national women's organizations and development NGOs with a mass base. The Family Planning Organization of the Philippines is carrying out a 3-year comparative study of the effectiveness of community volunteers in the acceptance of natural family planning. The Reproductive Health Philippines has completed a follow-up of Depo Provera defaulters in a previous clinical study of Depo Provera acceptors conducted in 1985-87. IEC support from various medical and social organizations also helped advance family planning and population awareness of the program. The Mary Johnston Hospital and Iglesia ni Kristo have been front-runners in sterilization through their mobile teams and regular clinics. On the negative side, funding constraints are threatening the very existence of some NGOs. Even those that do not face such constraints face problems related to cost effectiveness, priority setting, capability building, and staff development. A survey of the Population Center Foundation identified some urgent concerns: sharing experience in self-reliance, enhancement of the managerial skills of staff, and funding problems. NGOs complement the family planning services of the government as well as focus on the smooth flow of IEC activities.     

Values: their place in population education

In an attempt to resolve the crucial issues relating to dealing with the value dilemmas of students, population educators in the Philippines convened a series of conferences. The Philippine population education teachers, trainers, and administrators participating in the conferences agreed that a fusion of the affective and cognitive processes was necessary and that there should be more student involvement and self-made decisions on the part of students. An issue still unresolved is whether schools should inculcate values in the students or let them resolve or discover values by themselves; the strategies suggested range from open-ended or value processing to close-ended value teaching. Teachers and supervisors stressed that all strategies should be undertaken since they complement each other, but the choice and availability of materials to support and reinforce the strategy continues to be a problem for many participants. Preliminary studies conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a value clarification strategy support the contention that value clarification processes do make a difference in certain patterns of student behavior, attitudes, and knowledge. Research also shows that the value clarification strategy is ineffective with teachers who are highly authoritarian, closed-minded, and dogmatic. The Population Education Program has responded to recommendations of the conference participants and taken some definite action, such as the implementation of value clarification strategies as part of the teacher training program and development of a list of Filipino values to serve as guides in teaching value-laden population issues.     

Decentralizing population education research

Population education research will now be conducted at the regional, division, and local levels. It is expected that this decentralization will solve problems faced by population education teachers and supervisors in the field and help to formulate curricula suitable to local needs. It will also mean changes in the implementation of the research activities of the Department of Education and Culture-Population Education Program. Since its creation in 1972 the Population Education Program of the Research Unit has been conducting research studies on a centralized basis, seeking out research leads, conducting studies to determine the content and methodology of program curriculum, and assessing the effectiveness of training programs. During the past 3 years the Research Unit has also made significant progress in monitoring the program's activities - determining problems and needs, making recommendations on the basis of findings, and initiating action on such recommendations. 1 recommendation is to establish regional centers for research activities. If approved by the Commission on Population, the proposal will bring about major changes in the research program, the most significant of which will be the establishment of research centers in 12 teacher-training institutions all over the country. Additionally, these institutions will offer consultative services to researchers in the field. The reorganization of the research program, as well as the eventual restructuring of the Training and Curriculum Units, anticipates the withdrawal of foreign financial assistance by 1977. In the decentralized setup, basic results gathered by regional research centers can be immediately consumed by the training or curriculum staff based in these institutions. With decentralization and the related activities, the Population Education Program shows itself capable of responding to emerging research needs.     

Training schemes for teachers in population education

Population education is now part of the academic curriculum on the elementary, secondary, and tertiary levels in the Philippines, so adequate teacher training in the subject is important. When the teacher training program was instituted, a number of problems arose that can slow implementation of the curricular additions. The areas of concern are trainer competence, quality of training because of a lack of favorable attitudes toward population education, negative teacher attitude, superficial understanding of the subject by the teachers, lack of classroom space, and a training overload due to concurrent training in other fields. A combination of solutions are being investigated including a proposal for uniform guidelines for a structured training program as well as a modular training program that entails independent study.     

俄罗斯的人口问题

人口问题是困扰俄罗斯诸多问题中紧迫问题之一。俄罗斯的人口危机不单纯是人口问题,是国家综合危机症的一个方面,它同经济问题、家庭问题、妇女价值观问题、妇幼医疗保健问题等等是纠合在一起的,绝非国家几项应急措施所能轻易解决得了的。但俄罗斯必须尽快扼止人口的急降趋势,这涉及国家的根本利益。要解决俄罗斯人口问题,首先要解决经济下滑问题,其次才是制定人口政策和某些价值观念的改变。     

Population growth,economic development and family planning

This report discusses research conducted to determine whether reduction in population growth rates contributed to the rapid economic growth of Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. The 5-year research projects, jointly sponsored by the UN Fund for Population Activities, the Nihon University Population Research Institute, and the East-West Population Institute, concluded that development and family planning programs contributed substantially to fertility decline in these countries. The project examined 3 factors that influence the long-term productive capacity and growth of the 4 Asian economies: savings, the size of the labor force, and the quality of labor (measured by educational attainment). Available evidence indicates a strong positive contribution of population decline toward growth of savings, a growth in labor force concurrent with a decline in fertility rates which enables per capita income to rise, and an increase in 2ndary education enrollment ratios as fertility is lowered. Development factors by themselves explain no more than 1/2 of the decline in fertility observed, suggesting that family planning programs particularly in Thailand, South Korea and Indonesia since 1976 have had an important impact on fertility and economic development.     

Pakistan: re-organization at the top

New measures for population program planning have been introduced in Pakistan. 3 wings were added in the Population Planning Council: administration, coordination, and planning; operation; and technical. New elements in the program include: 1) setting up of new directorates; 2) opening of more family welfare clinics, model clinics, and sterilization centers; and 3) expansion of training facilities for medical and paramedical personnel. 2 national training institutions have been established: the Population Training Centre at Lahore, and the National Institute of Advanced Training at Hyderabad. 16 centers have training courses for doctors performing sterilization. There has been a restructuring of the information, education, and communication aspects of the program. The commercial distribution of contraceptives has become an important element. There are efforts to relate the program to other development programs.     

Papua New Guinea: multi-level awareness campaign

The Population Awareness Campaign in Papua New Guinea has been launched as a nationwide population education effort. Provinical workshops will be held for local leaders and community groups to create an awareness of the ways in which rapid population growth interferes with development efforts. Other activities involving more specific family planning-related messages will be films, radio programs, and plays in the Pidgin language. These are all designed to air in rural areas.     

Several problems concerning population investment]

Population investment is a major topic in the studies of population and economic relations. In this particular area, numerous theoretical and practical problems are still in need of solution. Concerning the problem of population concept, there are three different approaches: (1) to determine the definition of population investment from the relationship between the population growth and the capital from national income used for investment, including investment in the newly increased population and investment in the entire population; (2) to explain population investment from the economic viewpoint that people are producers; and (3) to explain population investment from the expense needed to change a simple labor force to a skillful labor force. The expenses include educational costs, maintanance spending, wages needed to compensate workers in labor, costs for workers to master and learn modern scientific techniques to be used for production, and the costs of keeping a young labor force in the next generation.     

Population research and education in Vietnam

Population research and education in Vietnam have expanded in their functions since the early 1980s. There are currently 5 departments conducting demographic studies: the National Committee for Population and Family Planning within the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and the Institute of Pedagogical Sciences, the Ministry of Labor Fore, the Vietnam Women's Union, and the Youth Union. An overview is provided of each department and its research and educational activities as well as the General Statistics Office (GSO) and the Institute of Sociology. GSO provides statistics on population annually from a variety of sources including the decennial census. The last census was conducted in 1989 and is useful for understanding general demographic trends. Vital rate data are considered too low. The Institute of Sociology uses the sample survey and focus groups to examine social and economic conditions and their effects on norms and values about reproduction. The Institute conducted a knowledge, attitudes, and prevalence (KAP) survey in 1984. Studies have focused on the commune level and the role of government in population regulation. Findings have supported a position that the goal of a 2-child family is not attainable without social and economic change as well as family planning. Migration studies have also been undertaken with the Ministry of Labor. The National Committee for Population and Family Planning is concerned with studies on the biotechnology of contraceptive methods and abortion. A study in 1987 examined health workers attitudes toward and knowledge of a variety of contraceptive methods. In 1988 the Demographic and Health Survey was conducted and data were comparable internationally. Studies have been helpful in designing training programs and in informing decision makers. Forecast data in 1990 were useful in setting targets for the coming decade. The Ministry of Education targets the general public and students. Materials aim to create positive attitudes to family planning and to inform about general population issues. Special groups such as the Women's Union have conducted KAP studies and the Center for Women's Studies has focused on the problems of women in development.     

World population year

The purposes of the World Population Year (1974) declared by the General Assembly of the United Nations are: 1) to improve knowledge of and information about population trends; 2) sharpen awareness of population problems and their implications; 3) provide education on population, family life and reproduction; 4) stimulate consideration of alternative policies in the population and development fields, and 5) expand international cooperation in the population field and supply increased technical assistance to countries needing and desiring it. The central core of activity is the United Nations Conference which is a series of meetings under various names culminating in the final World Population Conference to be held in Bucharest in August, 1974.     

When studying schooling is not enough: Incorporating employment in models of educational transitions

Several recent studies have demonstrated the importance of incorporating qualitative differentiation within educational systems in the study of class inequality in student transitions. We extend these endeavors by broadening the definition of differentiation to include participation in the labor market. As increasing proportions of students continue their educational journeys beyond compulsory schooling, they are considering not only whether to stay in school but also whether to simultaneously enter the world of work. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997 (NLSY97), we show that family background influences not only whether students make specific educational transitions but also whether they combine those educational transitions with work. Student trajectories are also path dependent, with employment during one educational transition being related to specific transition patterns at a later point in time. Considering how students combine school and work reveals another dimension of differentiation which can be exploited by socioeconomically advantaged families to “effectively maintain” inequality in educational outcomes.     

A tentative discussion on problems of enhancement of population quality in China]

Population quality is an undeniable fact. It means people's scientific and cultural literacy, their ability to work, and their physical health condition. Population quality is influenced by sociological and physiological factors. Population quality improves as society and production power improve. Industrialization and rapid development in science and technology in western countries required workers with higher levels of education and physical concentration. In order to change the poor economic situation and achieve the "Four Modernizations" in China, a great number of people possessing knowledge of modern science and technology to manage modern production is needed. Agricultural and meat production need to be improved, thereby improving the people's physical health condition. The importance of population quantity control must be realized. In order to lower the population growth rate we can increase the economic development and improve people's educational level and physical health. To improve population quality we should continue nationwide family planning programs, change our educational structure (increase vocational training and utilize the electronic media and correspondence courses), improve the physical health of children and youth, expand our social welfare system, and emphasize research on genetics and eugenics.     

Preparing adolescents for adulthood

Pregnancy-related school dropouts have become a matter of public concern throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In most cases, schoolgirls who become pregnant either have to resort to unsafe illegal abortions, or they face official school expulsion. Because girls who drop out of school due to pregnancy usually do not return to school to complete their education after the birth of their child, their opportunities for socioeconomic advancement are limited. Many African governments have included family life education programs in the school curriculum in an attempt to educate adolescents about the consequences and responsibilities associated with sexual activity. The high rates of schoolgirl pregnancies suggest that these programs have their shortcomings, and indicate that educational policies should attempt not only to reduce the incidence of schoolgirl pregnancies, but also to assist pregnant schoolgirls to complete their education. In this paper, we use data from a sample of 154 Kenyan primary and secondary schools to study differentials in the extent to which various types of schools are affected by pregnancy-related school dropouts, and to examine the opinions of the head teachers regarding teaching about contraceptive methods and readmittance of pregnancy-related dropouts.     

Full-time workers reach out to the villages

The Philippine Commission on Population (Popcom) has fielded 2721 fulltime outreach workers (FTOWs). The FTOWs are the outcome of a shift from a clinic-based, motivation-oriented family planning effort to the Rural Outreach Program which is part of the new Total Integrated Development Approach (TIDA). Organizationally, the workers are under local government supervision and their purpose is to make the family planning program more responsive to community needs. This article profiles the average FTOW, describes recruitment and training procedures and discusses problems of the program -- funding, transportation, inadequate training, lack of educational materials, shortage of contraceptive supplies -- and possible solutions.     

New strategies for slowing population growth

Growth of world population over the next 100 years, until the year 2100, will produce an estimated 11.5 billion people. The past focus on reducing rapid population growth exclusively through family planning has not been sufficient. Population policy needs to be broadened to include health care, education, and poverty reduction. The population policy recommendations of Population Council Vice-President John Bongaarts and Senior Associate Judith Bruce were to reduce unwanted pregnancies by expanding services that promote reproductive choice and better health, to reduce the demand for large families by creating favorable conditions for small families, and to invest in adolescents. The Population Council 1994 publication "Population Growth and Our Caring Capacity" outlined these issues. Another similar article by John Bongaarts appeared in the journal "Science" in 1994. In developing countries, excluding China, about 25% of all births are unwanted; 25 million abortions are performed for unwanted pregnancies. The provision of comprehensive family planning programs will go a long way toward achieving a reduction in unwanted pregnancies. In addition, changes are needed in male control over female sexuality and fertility and in cultural beliefs that are obstacles to use of contraception. Stabilization of population at 2 children per family will not occur unless there is a desire for small families. In most less developed countries, large family sizes are preferred. Governments have an opportunity to adopt policies that reduce economic and social risks of having small families. This can be accomplished through the widespread education of children, a reduction in infant and child mortality, improvement in the economic and social and legal status of women, and provision of equitable gender relations in marriage and child rearing. The rights of children to be wanted, planned, and adequately cared for need to be supported. These aforementioned measures will help to reduce fertility, provide support for small families, and justify investment in social development. Population momentum will keep population growing for some time even with replacement level fertility. Investment in adolescents through enhancement of self-esteem and promotion of later childbearing can lengthen the span between generations and slow population momentum. Population policies will be more effective when human rights are protected.     

Five recommendations for controlling population growth in China]

The rapid population growth rate (2% annually from 1949 to 1978) caused great difficulties for China's national economy because it increased the burden of families, communities, and government. It caused employment problems and slowed increases in living standards and educational levels. The best way to control population growth is based on a combination of political education and effective economic measures. The recommendations are: 1) coordinate employment, food rationing, salaries, bonuses, health treatment, age and condition of retirement, preschool care and education with family planning programs, maintain the elderly's living standard, and give preference to childless and single child families; 2) educate people about family planning and incorporate population growth and family planning into political and economics courses in high school and college; 3) incorporate population control into national economic plans; 4) prohibit families with 3 children and advocate 1 child per couple; and 5) establish a permanent population committee to plan, develop, and implement population policies and related research.