María Balarin Bonazzi
Senior Researcher
PhD in Educational Policy - University of Bath
mbalarin@grade.org.pe
María is a Senior Researcher at the Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE) where she has a broad portfolio of both applied and academic research.
Her applied work focuses on the analysis and qualitative evaluation of educational and social policies, with a special focus on processes of policy implementation. Her academic work has mostly focused on the field of education, where she has been concerned with understanding how educational processes mediate relations between the state and society. Her recent work focuses on the impact of educational markets on patterns of social segregation; and on vulnerable youth transition processes in the context of exclusionary citizenship regimes, where she also brings a strong gender perspective. She has also developed a strong interest in understanding the conditions under which social research is conducted in developing countries, and on the way in which gender relations underpin research careers and processes of knowledge production as well as the visibility of women’s work in the public sphere.
She holds a PhD in Education Policy from the University of Bath, an MA in Psychoanalytic Studies from the University of Essex, both in the UK, and BA in Philosophy from the Pontificia Universidad Católica in Peru. Between 2006 and 2011 she was a postdoctoral fellow and then a Lecturer in the Department of Education of the University of Bath, UK, where she was associated to the Education Policy and Globalization research group.
Her work has been published in edited books and international academic journals.
She is a member and part of the Steering Committee of Grupo Sofía.
Publications
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Ed-tech in the Global South: research gaps and opportunities
2023 Santiago Cueto, Maria Balarin, Mauricio Saavedra, Claudia Sugimaru
This study explores the evolving landscape of educational technology (ed-tech) in the context of increased global and national attention about the topic, with the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating the drive to incorporate technology in education to mitigate issues with access, quality and systems management. Focused on challenges and opportunities in primary and secondary schools in low- […]
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Bringing peacebuilding to nexus thinking in education in emergencies: promising practices to overcome injustices
2023 Julia Paulson, Kelsey Shanks, Bassel Akar, Emraan Azad, Maria Balarin, Vasila Bozichaeva, Jennifer Emelife, María Fernanda Rodríguez
This synthesis report was commissioned by INEE, UNESCO and IFRC through the Geneva Global Hub for Education in Emergencies (EiE Hub). These partners recognise that education in emergencies and protracted crises must be recognised as a cornerstone of humanitarian, peace and development action – not as secondary to sectoral responses – and that this requires action across […]
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Reforming education in the context of weak states: the political economy of education reforms in Peru 1995-2020
2023 Maria Balarin, Mauricio Saavedra
In this paper, we explore the political economy of education reforms in Peru through an analysis of the recent history of education policies in the country. Starting in 1995, arguably the inception point for quality-oriented reforms, we follow policy developments in three selected areas – curriculum, teachers and assessment – up to 2020, the year […]
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Chapter in BookEl Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar
Los caminos de la exclusión: las transiciones hacia la vida adulta entre jóvenes urbanos vulnerables
2022 Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin
This essay details the transitions to adulthood experienced by vulnerable urban youth. This is the most important transition towards productivity improvements, as young people should begin to apply the learning gained from their human capital investments in the labor market. However, one phenomenon limiting this realization is the high proportion of young ninis: neither studying […]
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El Perú pendiente: ensayos para un desarrollo con bienestar
2022 Maria Balarin, Santiago Cueto, Ricardo Fort
The essays that make up this book have been written to commemorate the first 40 years of GRADE’s institutional life, which coincides not only with the Bicentennial of Peru’s Independence, but also with the health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its profound economic, social and political consequences. From different conceptual and methodological perspectives, […]
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Poor education and precarious jobs in Peru: Understanding who is left behind and why
2020 Lorena Alcazar, Micaela Bullard, Maria Balarin
Given the large inequalities in Peru, fulfilling the ’leave no one behind’ UN 2030 Agenda commitment might become the country’s largest challenge to SDG implementation. In light of this, understanding who is left behind, and why, gains particular importance. This study uses a mixed methodological approach to provide a baseline of the left behind in […]
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Evaluación del diseño e implementación de la intervención de soporte pedagógico intercultural del Ministerio de Educación del Perú
2018 Maria Balarin, Aurora Escudero
Por encargo del Ministerio de Educación, y con el apoyo del Proyecto FORGE, GRADE asume la conducción de una evaluación de diseño y proceso de implementación de la intervención de Soporte Pedagógico Intercultural (SPI) bajo la supervisión y acompañamiento técnico de la Oficina de Seguimiento y Evaluación Estratégica (OSEE), responsable de coordinar el proceso de producción, […]
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Vocational and business training to improve women’s labour market outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
2018 Marjorie Chinen, Thomas de Hoop, Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Josh Sennett, Julian Mezarina
This Campbell systematic review examines the impact of vocational and business training targeted at women in low- and middle-income countries. The review summarises evidence from thirty-five quantitative studies with an experimental or quasi-experimental design. The review summarises the impact of 30 interventions, containing data from over 80,000 women. The qualitative narrative meta-synthesis includes findings from […]
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Vocational and business training to improve women’s labour market outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
2017 Marjorie Chinen, Thomas de Hoop, Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Josh Sennett
This Campbell systematic review examines the impact of vocational and business training targeted at women in low- and middle-income countries. The review summarises evidence from thirty-five quantitative studies with an experimental or quasi-experimental design. The review summarises the impact of 30 interventions, containing data from over 80,000 women. The qualitative narrative meta-synthesis includes findings from […]
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La trayectoria reciente y situación actual de la educación privada en el Perú
2017 Maria Balarin
Como mostraremos a lo largo del documento, el sector privado de la educación es hoy en día en extremo diverso. En él coexisten instituciones educativas de alta calidad con otras de calidad dudosa, muchas de las cuales operan en situación de informalidad. Del mismo modo, los resultados alcanzados por el sector privado de la educación […]
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JournalEducation policy analysis archives
Educating on a budget: the subsistence model of low-fee private schooling in Peru
2019 Maria Balarin, Clara Fontdevila, Paola Marius, María Fernanda Rodríguez
Over the last decades, Peru has experienced an extraordinary rise of low-fee private schools (LFPSs). While global debates on the quality of this modality of schooling have been gaining currency, research on the organizational practices of LFPSs remains comparatively underdeveloped. This paper aims at identifying and describing the managerial, business and organizational practices exhibited by […]
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JournalJournal of Youth Studies
Fractured lives: understanding urban youth vulnerability in Perú
2019 Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Cristina Glave, María Fernanda Rodríguez
The paper reports on a mixed methods study that sought to analyse determinants of youth labour market and educational disengagement in Peru. It begins by questioning the widespread focus on NEET – youth not in employment, education or training – as a measure of youth vulnerability in countries with extensive informal labour markets where labour […]
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JournalRevista de la Asociación de Sociología de la Educación
La privatización por defecto y el surgimiento de las escuelas privadas de bajo costo en el Perú. ¿Cuáles son sus consecuencias?
2016 Maria Balarin
Since the 1990s, when for-profit investment in education was liberalized, Perú has seen a constant growth in the supply and demand of private education services. This tendency has deepened in the last decade in a context of economic growth that has allowed many families to migrate to the private sector. The growth of the private […]
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JournalAmerican Behavorial Scientist
The changing governance of education: a comparative political economy perspective on hybridity
2014 Maria Balarin
This paper explores the changing governance of education in two distinct contexts: England and Peru. While there are major differences between these two cases, the paper argues that a common agenda can be identified where an increasing degree of organizational hybridity is patent—where the traditionally distinct goals and rationales of public and private sectors are […]
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JournalBritish Journal of Sociology of Education
Understanding education: a sociological perspective
2011 Maria Balarin
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¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos de la reforma educativa?: continuidades, discontinuidades y ausencias en los intentos recientes de reformar la educación básica en el Perú
Aproximaciones al Perú de hoy desde las ciencias sociales2019 Maria Balarin
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Oportunidades y barreras en la trayectoria de las científicas sociales peruanas
Desigualdad en la academia: mujeres en las ciencias sociales2018 Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Andrea Román
El presente capítulo se enmarca en estos esfuerzos y es resultado de esa agenda del Grupo Sofía, que pretende profundizar en el análisis de las disparidades entre las experiencias de mujeres y hombres en el mundo laboral académico de las ciencias sociales. Específicamente, analizamos las oportunidades y barreras a las que se enfrentan las científicas sociales peruanas durante su […]
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El entorno de la investigación social en el Perú
Desigualdad en la academia: mujeres en las ciencias sociales2018 Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Aurora Escudero
En el Perú existen coincidencias importantes con los hallazgos de esta literatura, hay también particularidades que se explicarían por lo que podemos describir como el entorno precario en el que se desarrolla la investigación académica en el país, entorno que profundiza algunas desigualdades de género que también se plantean en el presente libro.
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¿Cómo abordar el estudio de las inequidades de género en el mundo académico?
Desigualdad en la academia: mujeres en las ciencias sociales2018 Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin
Este primer capítulo busca situar a las personas que lean este libro en ese abordaje conceptual compartido sobre el problema de las inequidades de género en el mundo académico. Para ello, presentamos una breve discusión sobre cómo nos aproximamos a los regímenes de inequidad en el campo académico y de la investigación, y sobre los principales aportes […]
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El contexto importa: reflexiones acerca de cómo los contextos y la composición escolar afectan el rendimiento y la experiencia educativa de los estudiantes
Investigación para el desarrollo en el Perú: once balances2016 Maria Balarin
The starting point for this assessment is the idea that in complex systems such as education, results are the product of dynamic interactions between actors, policies, and contexts—cultural, social, and institutional. Therefore, it is impossible to reduce results to a single, specific, replicable set of facts. The assessment seeks to delve into this idea by […]
No se han encontrado publicaciones de Maria Balarin en la categoría Policy brief
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Inclusión social: diálogos entre la investigación y las políticas públicas
2014 Martín Benavides, Miguel Jaramillo, Santiago Cueto, Gabriela Guerrero, Juan Leon, Nestor Valdivia, Lorena Alcazar, Manuel Glave, Maria Balarin, Juan Jose Diaz, Juana Kuramoto, Gerardo Damonte
Esta publicación recoge el espíritu del seminario internacional "Cambios Institucionales para un Estado más Inclusivo" (julio de 2012), y apunta a lo más relevante y valioso de cada exposición, intervención y comentario.
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Educating for the knowledge economy?: critical perspectives
2012 Maria Balarin, Hugh Lauder, Harry Daniels, John Lowe
The promise, embraced by governments around the world, is that the knowledge economy will provide knowledge workers with a degree of autonomy and permission to think which enables them to be creative and to attract high incomes. What credence should we give to this promise? The current economic crisis is provoking a reappraisal of both […]
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The school governance study
2008 Maria Balarin, Steve Brammer, Chris James, Mark McCormack
This study analysed the policy and research literature relevant to school governing. It carried out 43 in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, undertook a large scale random on-line survey of over 5000 school governors and elicited the views of 42 headteachers.
No se han encontrado publicaciones de Maria Balarin en la categoría Mimeo
Projects
- Impacts of the Juntos Program on women’s empoweringOctober 2014
- Comparative study of the educational systems in South America – the Peruvian caseJuly 2014
- Twelve years of PISA: An education map in Latin AmericaMarch 2014 - July 2014
- Preparation of proposal and tools for the analysis of factors associated to student performanceMarch 2013 - May 2013
- Elaboration of a methodological proposal and pilot of instruments for the study on planning and implementation of learning situations in urban and rural primary school classrooms.October 2012 - November 2012
- Case study on TIC policy management of the Peruvian educational systemOctober 2012 - November 2012
- Pilot and design of qualitative methodologies for the study of chronic poverty in Latin America and The CaribbeanMay 2012 - June 2012
- Understanding the impact of Think Tanks: preparatory studies for the event “2012 Think Tank Initiative Exchange”March 2012 - December 2012
- Qualitative Evaluation of the Tutoring and Follow-up Model of Enseña PerúSeptember 2011 - January 2012
- Servicio de Consultoría Estudio sobre oferta y demanda en la educación en Áreas RuralesDecember 2005
Media
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María Balarin joins podcast about the authorship of research work carried out by women
May 16, 2018 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
María Balarin, Senior Researcher at GRADE and member of Grupo Sofía, Carmen Velezmoro, Vice Chancelor of Research at Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, and Gisella Orjeda, chair of the Association En Órbita, discuss the issues regarding the authorship of academic research work made by women. Podcast of Mujeres Que Transforman.
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Inequality in academy, by Lorena Alcázar and María Balarin
May 11, 2018 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
In the Peruvian social sciences, half of the university students are women. However, only one in three teachers and one in five media experts are women. Why do we see fewer women in academic events, media and in teaching and management positions? What can be done about it? We share the op-ed by Lorena Alcázar and María Balarin, […]
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María Balarín on the presence and impact of women in science in Peru
April 18, 2018 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
María Balarin, senior researcher at GRADE, Carmen Velezmoro, vice-rector of research at the National Agrarian University La Molina, and Gisella Orjeda, former president of the National Council of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation, discuss the situation of women in science in the Peru and share with the initiative Women Transforming their experience: What macho expressions and attitudes […]
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Low-cost private schools in Peru: the high cost of low quality?
February 21, 2018 Education and learning
We share an article on the main findings of the recent study “Low-cost private education in Peru: a quality approach”, conducted by researchers from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and GRADE with the support of Unite for Quality Education. The text highlights the impact of the low-fee private schools sector on both learning processes and learning […]
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Six in 10 private schools are low-cost and mostly of subsistence
August 11, 2017 Education and learning, State reform and public institutions
What is the situation of private education in Peru? The newspaper Gestión highlighted some of the topics discussed in the presentation of the study by our senior researchers, María Balarin and Hugo Ñopo, on the functioning of the market of educational services in our country [Video and wrap-up of the presentation here].
No se han encontrado novedades de Maria Balarin en la categoría Opinion Article
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Casi el 90% piensa que la educación escolar en nuestro país es entre mala y regular
October 21, 2012 State reform and public institutions
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
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El Estado tiene tres retos respecto a la institucionalidad intercultural
July 11, 2012 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
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María Balarin: Why is the presence of women so relevant in the production of knowledge?
July 13, 2017 Ethnicity, gender and citizenship
Why is so relevant the presence of women in the production of knowledge? Due to a lost of talent issue and also because the perspectives are different. Having more women involves different approaches of the same problem, but also allows the identification of new problems. This topic was discussed by María Balarín, senior researcher at GRADE and member of […]
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María Balarin: “Las escuelas privadas de bajo costo contribuyen a la generación y reproducción de un sistema educativo segregado y altamente estratificado”
May 10, 2016 Education and learning
Sorry, this entry is only available in European Spanish.
No se han encontrado novedades de Maria Balarin en la categoría Reference
Presentations
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The ungoverned education market and the deepening of socioeconomic school segregation in Peru
Ciudad de México, 26 March, 2018
Presentación en la 62° Conferencia Anual de la Sociedad de Educación Comparada e Internacional CIES 2018.
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Mercado privado, consecuencias públicas: un estudio sobre el funcionamiento de los mercados de servicios educativos en el Perú
Auditorio de GRADE, 10 August, 2017
Presentación de resultados iniciales, como parte de las actividades de incidencia del estudio TTI-GRADE.
Selected Publications
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Vocational and business training to improve women’s labour market outcomes in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review
2018 Marjorie Chinen, Thomas de Hoop, Lorena Alcazar, Maria Balarin, Josh Sennett, Julian Mezarina