SDG 4 and Quality of Secondary Business Education in Bangladesh

Abstract

Education is the key to scientific and technological development, employment generation, and economic advancement (Chimombo, 2005). Quality education is the center stage of Sustainable Development Goal Four (SDG 4) and is supported by a general commitment to ensuring inclusiveness, equitability, and sustainability (Saini et al., 2022). SDG 4 is a foundational goal that has an enabler role in realizing most of the other SDGs. Seven SDGs (3, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, and 17) are directly related to SDG 4 (Lawrence, 2020). This study aims to conceptualize the quality of secondary business education from the perspective of SDG 4, to identify the critical dimensions of quality in secondary business education, and to develop a framework model for the quality of secondary business education based on SDG 4. This study has employed a cross-sectional sample survey. Teachers and students in secondary high schools, both government and non-government, have formed the universe. The sample for the study has been determined systematically through a multi-stage cluster sampling method for collecting data. Quantitative data were collected through a validated questionnaire, and the secondary high school teachers and students from the business studies group and head teachers were the respondents of this research from schools of four grades- A, B, C, and D of the different types of Upazilas. This study has developed a model for evaluating quality in secondary business education based on SDG 4. 11 hypotheses and two mediating variables were proposed in that research model. Data collected from different respondents focusing on the dimensions of quality education have been analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Microsoft Excel, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software, as well as Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique- Smart PLS 4 (Version 4.0.8.9) software (Ringle et al., 2022), have been used to analyze the data and research model. Two types of validity- ‘Convergent validity’ and ‘Discriminant validity’- were examined to assess the measurement model. The proposed hypotheses were tested using the SEM technique to examine the structural model. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the model is significant because most of the hypotheses are accepted. The mediating effect of the two variables – ‘Quality of students’ and ‘Quality of Teachers’ has also been found. Based on demographic data (Gender), one xvii control variable is created in the structural model and tested using the bootstrapping method. No significant gender effect on the quality of secondary business education was found. The study also conducted an ANOVA test to examine the multigroup effects and found substantial effects on the quality of secondary business education. This model established some influential dimensions and subdimensions to evaluate the quality of secondary business education. Moreover, it is straightforward to examine the relationship among the different factors or dimensions identified in the model through the result of path coefficients. Through the lens of SDG 4, this study has developed three emerging antecedents of quality education: inclusive education, equitable education, and lifelong learning. Thus, this study has filled a gap in the body of research on the quality of secondary business education. Additionally, this research has practical implications as it has developed and empirically tested the model within the framework of secondary business education. At the policy level, this research will provide necessary data to educationists, lawmakers, and secondary education administrators. As a future research direction, this study suggests further research on the quality of secondary business education for cross-cultural comparisons of different countries' developmental stages, especially between developing and developed countries. This study also recommended that future research on the efficacy of technology-driven education might be carried out to ensure safe, effective, and sustainable technology in the classroom.