_Page 13_ system. Testing agencie **s** houid also share with other agencies technical skills (item design, computer programming, etc.), and equipment with education research functions.

- Tests. Where the test-taking population is high, geographically dispersed, culturally heteroger sous, or where the test employs a new nationa **l** anguage, the test itself could benrfit from a multiple choice format. Administrative and pedagogical effects of these tests would be maximized If questions were based upon the curriculum; if they were open ex post facto to public scrutiny; and if they were to Include all levels of skill hierarchies, from recall to synthesis.

Designation of the 'Rules of the Game': Transparency ofthe Education System The Issue of motivation and the value placed on schooling by a large number of citizens concerns the entire society and not merely the education sector. That economic returns tend to be highest in some low-income countries reflects the fact that, as a commodity, education is both scarce and in high demand. . . . when asked 'whether It Is Important to do well in school4, secondary school students In India almost uniformly answer yes, whereas in France three students in ten say no. When asked whether they would like to "leave school as soon as possible, 10%* in India, 30% in England, 45% in the United States and Sweden, and 65% in France answered yes. On almost every attitudinal Indicator, students In India value school more and are more likely to consider it Important and are more likely to want the opportunity to continue. 8 A mixture of material and psychological variables (parents' occupation, education **a** l ttainment, income, and possessions; number of rooms per family member; number of books in the home; etc.) are often used in the current developmenli erature **t** to explain why children with better than average amounts seem to demonstrate better than average performances Inschool. However, these indices exert powerful and consistent influences In one society, but not In another. As Heyneman points out in his analysis using Ugandan data, "academic advantage is not an inevitable condition of economic privilege".'9 Part of the motivational considerations regarding human resource development insome low-income countries stems from the phenomenon that education In those societies Is lockstep in nature: lack of ability to complete primary or secondary school as a youth precludes the opportunity to proceed in education later In lIfe. Scarcity of opportunities thus creates competition for school places from the onset of grade one, and at a level of intensity unknown in wealthier countries until college or graduate school.

Perhaps R may not be possible for a society to instill new values. Yet, a society can require certain behavior from is citizens, communica **t** e o its youth that education is the most important task they have in front of them before becoming aduits, and above all, R can introduce clarity and transparency Inthe working of the educational system so that its participants understand the rules of the game".

Development of Cognitive Skills in the WorkPlace Although i Is a truism that working skills are closely linked to on-the-job experiences, the kind of learning that takes place at work remains largely Invisible to the educational community.20 The workplace is a learning environment the educational potential of which has scarcely been tapped, and educational planning for the future might

- 8 Fagerlnd and Munck (1981).

- l Heyneman (1979). 20 In the Unied States, the Office of Educational Research and Improvement Inthe Department ofEducatlon has conducted a detailed series of studies in industry that take a close-up look at the processes through which novice workers become experts on their jobs.