Title: Section 4: Funding and Policy Issues
Course: Introduction to Open Schooling > Section: Funding and Policy Issues for Open Schooling

Funding models, revenue, business models, policy, monitoring, evaluation, and sustainability.

Learning Journey

There are five sections in this course, and each explores a specific aspect of open schooling principles and practices. Let's now begin with section 4. Overview of Open Schooling (Completed) Curriculum Issues for Open Schooling (Completed) Teaching and Learning Approaches for Open Schooling (Completed) Funding and Policy Issues for Open Schooling (Up next) Regional Variations in Open Schooling Practices (Upcoming) 1 2 3 4 5

Migration source: module05/p02

The Iron Triangle

Figure 9. A diagram of the iron triangle featuring the considerations for open schooling that includes access, quality and cost (Adapted from Daniel, Kanwar, and Uvalić‑Trumbić (2009)).

Most countries cannot afford to expand traditional schooling provision, especially in places with a young and growing population, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, so classrooms become overcrowded or inaccessible. We need to increase access, while constraining costs and assuring quality so that access can become success. The open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) provision of open schooling offers the potential to balance these needs when we work at scale. We may need, however, to cross-subsidise between large-scale, low-cost programmes and smaller-scale, high-cost programmes to meet all the different needs.

Migration source: module05/p32

Funding Models

Figure 10. A conceptual cartoon illustration depicting the steps involved in constructing a budget.

Financial requirements differ depending on the situation at a particular place. There are various funding models available for use in specific circumstances.

Migration source: module05/p01

Funding Models (Continued)

Select each tab to learn more about some of these funding models. Normal budget negotiations include:
- Intense negotiation
- Competing demands and priorities
- Promises that may not materialise and
- May require revisiting annually — making planning difficult

It is observed that the service level agreements :
- Are often used in relation to specific functions
- Determine expected outcomes through a process of negotiation, and the service is paid for
- Are often short-term
- Can lead to greater efficiency and effectiveness

A budgetary framework document implies:
- Activity-based budgeting
- Competing demands: mainstream versus open, education versus health
- Predictability versus uncertainty
- Nimbleness to shift priorities

A funding formula:
- Contains agreed principles for funding
- If input-based, emphasises enrolment over quality
- If output-based, restricts enrolment only to the most promising learners
- May be mixed
- May have implications for openness

Migration source: module05/p07

Open School Sources of Revenue

The variety of funding models need to be supported with wide-ranging sources of revenue. These sources vary from one context to another and may include any of the following. Select each tab to find out more about these sources.
Different governments support to different extents.
A private provider will usually not get any government subsidy at all.
For example:
- Namibia College of Open Learning: 65% state-funded
- National Institute of Open Schooling: 8–15% state-funded

The following issues need to be considered when setting tuition fees:
- Cost recovery versus affordability
- Bursaries for poor learners
- Cross-subsidisation between working lifelong learners and unemployed youths
- Inflation
- Additional costs: textbooks, devices, Internet, transport, and others

Philanthropic funding is often sought to support different categories of learner such as:
- For girls
- For the poor
- For the marginalised
- For people living with disabilities
- To support programme development

Some of the issues which arise when considering selling materials or services include:
- Selling to day schools versus using open educational resources (OER)
- Sale of services such as content development training could result in a bigger pool of talent to draw from or competition
- Freemium models require decisions about what is free and what must be paid for

Migration source: module05/p08

Alternative Business Models

Figure 11. Business model change and innovation graph by Alexander Osterwalder shows an innovation cloud with possible business model prototypes. Each prototype has a different degree of change and different implementation time.

There is a growing pressure to move digital and online. A digital medium offers a greater variety of resources to suit different learning needs. However, the costs of devices, Internet access, systems and training need to be considered. Different models are required for different contexts. National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India is huge and works in a lot of different areas. Namibia and Zambia offer open schooling in different but similar contexts and have some similar and some different ways of working.

Migration source: module05/p33

Policy Questions and Components

When developing any policy, we must ask ourselves the following questions.
Select each question to learn more.
Why is it necessary? Addressing issues of context, rationale and purpose. To what does it apply? Addressing issues of definition and scope.
To whom does it apply? Addressing issues of public and/or private provision as well as levels of application — schooling, adult education, technical and vocational education and training, and/or higher education.
Where does it apply? Addressing implications for physical and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure, access, costing and security as well as cross-border provision in an online era.
When does it apply? Addressing issues of policy implementation and renewal.
Where? When? How? Whom? What? Why? How does it apply? Addressing issues of co-ordination, monitoring, quality assurance, review and funding.
An appropriate business model for open schooling needs to be supported by a policy framework that also supports open schooling.

Migration source: module05/p09

Key Policy Components

Once we get answers to all the questions, we are ready to start with the policy creation. What should go into the policy? Here are some key components every policy should include:
- Definition
- Scope
- Rationale
- Purpose
- Content
- Principles/values
- Policy influences
- Cross-border provision
- System
- Planning and monitoring

- Public/private
- Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
- Quality assurance
- Intellectual property rights and Open Educational Resources (OER)
- Funding
- Research

Commonwealth of learning publication: Quality and Equity in Digital Learning: Policy Brief

Commonwealth of learning publication: Setting Standards, Maintaining Quality

Migration source: module05/p05

Things ODL Policy Should Consider

Figure 12. Considerations for open and distance learning (ODL) policy that includes access, quality and cost

After assuring all the key components are included in the policy, we need to remember the important factors that the policy should consider – access, quality and cost. For governments, the main potential is:
- To increase the capacity and cost effectiveness of education and training systems
- To reach target groups with limited access to conventional education and training
- To support and enhance the quality and relevance of existing educational structures
- To ensure the connection of educational institutions and curricula to emerging networks and information resources
- To promote innovation and opportunities for lifelong learning (Moore & Tait, 2002, p. 8).

Migration source: module05/p03

The Evolution of Distance Education

Distance education has gone through rapid changes over the years. It has been continually developing till date. Here is the timeline of its evolution: Select each tab to understand the evolution of distance education. Distance education laid emphasis on issues related to space, time, and transmission which led to the development of the next aspect. Distance education led to open and distance learning which involved open approaches, distance methods, and an emphasis on the learning process over content transmission. Then we had technology-enabled learning, which can happen on campus, it changed a lot of things. Now, e-learning is increasingly embraced by open and distance learning to make another groundbreaking development. That groundbreaking development is the open, distance and e-learning provision (which is not necessarily fully online).

Migration source: module05/p10

The Evolution of Distance Education: Multiple Modes of Provision

A diagram was developed by Saide, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in South Africa, that illustrates a grid of possibilities for degrees of technology-enabled learning (TEL) integration. As can be seen, there is a range of potential provision modes. Select each model to find out more about it.
It's an off-line programme offered to widely distributed students but including digital support such as podcasts and videos loaded onto a tablet or flash drive. This is a large, classroom-based programme offered on the main school campus as well as on a variety of satellite school campuses.
It's a part-time programme with face-to-face contact support offered in several satellite centres, some digital resources, and optional online discussion forums. This is a fully online programme offered to students all over the world. A fully online programme that students access in computer labs or by using their own devices in Wi-Fi hotspots on campus. Figure 13. A graph showing a grid of possibilities for TEL integration. On the y-axis, it ranges from offline (fully offline or digitally supported) to online (internet-supporting, internet-dependent, or fully online). On the x-axis, there is campus based, blended/hybrid, and remote.

Migration source: module05/p11

Global Knowledge Economy

As already discussed, open and distance learning is largely dependent on financial support. Let's discuss how the global economy affects open and distance learning. Select each number to proceed. Globalisation and the imperatives of the networked society are affecting education provision almost everywhere in the world. Open and distance learning may be the only way of meeting future ever-more-complex and diversified student demands. In any case, open and distance learning are continuing to grow very rapidly. The development of workable and relevant regulatory frameworks that are transparent and not overly bureaucratic is imperative for the success of open and distance learning and for the realisation of its benefits for students, as well as its contribution to solving mounting education pressures. Governmental, cross-border, inter-agency and inter-institutional collaboration will all be necessary to fashion a robust framework and public profile for open and distance learning.

Migration source: module05/p04