Education as a Response to NHRD Gaps in Developing Economies: A Case Study of l'Ecole de Choix/The School of Choice (Haiti), as Critical National Human Resource Development

• Date: 01 March 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21220
• Published date: 01 March 2016
• Author: Julie Gedro,Laura Pincus Hartman

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 27, no. 1, Spring 2016 © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21220 67

Education as a Response to

NHRD Gaps in Developing

Economies: A Case Study of

l’Ecole de Choix/The School

of Choice (Haiti), as Critical

National Human Resource

Development

Julie Gedro, Laura Pincus Hartman

Our case study examines national human resource development in

Haiti, a developing country that has not yet been carefully studied within

NHRD research. Using a descriptive case study approach, we collected

data through participant observation and documents of an innovative

elementary school. Data analysis revealed a gap between Haiti’s

educational standards and quality NHRD outcomes, and that the NHRD

literature can be broadened through case study research that focuses on

countries that lack a well-articulated and -executed strategy for NHRD.

Key Words: national human resource development, critical national human

resource development, Haiti

Introduction

This article expands on current scholarship in national human resource devel-

opment (NHRD) to encourage the examination of countries with developing

economies that do not fi t into the emergent models of NHRD such as those

presented in Cho and McLean (2004). We explore NHRD in Haiti through a

case study of a specifi c educational initiative called l’Ecole de Choix, French

for the School of Choice (hereinafter, “Choix”). Through an examination of

Choix’s innovative elementary educational model, we offer a critical version

68 Gedro and Hartman

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

of NHRD. Our analysis explores the persistent and fundamental needs for

elementary education in developing economies that demand such attention,

that further attempts to consider NHRD in those countries as workforce devel-

opment are ineffective because of their inherent futility. In other words, unless

a country’s population gains literacy and capacity for further education (high

school and even higher education) and skills training, any model of NHRD

for that country that proceeds without a provision for accessing or building

that capacity is unrealistic and impractical. Basic education for all individu-

als must precede any workforce development efforts. To that end, we offer a

brief examination of current defi nitions of NHRD, and then present contex-

tual information about Haiti through which to frame our close examination of

Choix. We then propose three research questions that guide our examination

of Choix and NHRD, and conclude with recommendations for practice and

theory. The purpose of this research is systematically to interrogate a national

context that has not been present heretofore within the NHRD landscape of

scholarship, with a goal of introducing Haiti into the research and discourse

of NHRD. While the 2010 earthquake raised the world’s awareness of Haiti’s

challenges, with high-profi le efforts of celebrities such as Sean Penn and high-

profi le politicians such as former U.S. President Bill Clinton, Haiti has been

beset by deep-seated problems since its emancipation from French rule in

1804, problems that will not cease simply with attention; they must be effec-

tively resolved. The research questions are intended to offer a portal for NHRD

scholarship. It is our intention, or aspiration, that this article represent the

fi rst of many attempts to bring the interest, focus, and expertise of NHRD

scholars to bear on a context that has been thinly examined.

Review of the Literature

This section explores the extant literature on NHRD and then offers an

abridged history of Haiti, in order to situate Haiti within the conversation on

NHRD within the fi eld.

HRD and International Perspectives

Lee (2007, p. 97) observes that HRD exists within a framework of philo-

sophical and political roots and that, while it is easy “to conceptualize human

resource development (HRD) as limited to training and development, this

does not equate to the messy reality of practicing HRD” and HRD is “played

out on a global as well as a local stage.” In their theory of international human

resource development (IHRD), Metcalfe and Rees (2005) help create a sense

of order on that stage by identifying three dimensions of IHRD: global HRD,

comparative HRD, and national HRD. Global HRD “can be characterized as

primarily being concerned with the strategic development of HRD and OD

systems and practices in a global organization” (2005, p. 455). Comparative

HRD takes a broader perspective, analyzing the cultural location and