Quality and Qualities: Tensions in Education Reforms
Quality and Qualities: Tensions in Education Reforms

Author: Clementina Acedo

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-09-07

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 9460919510

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Quality and Qualities: Tensions in Education Reforms is a provocative call for understanding and further exploring the elusive concept of quality in education. Although education quality has acquired high priority in the past few decades, the multiplicity of conceptualizations of quality also reflects the concerns and foci of multiple stakeholders. Coming to an understanding of quality education involves careful analysis of the context from which any particular reform or program emerges and of the continuing struggle to define and achieve it. Two main questions persist: who benefits from particular policies focused on quality? And what are the potential tradeoffs between a focus on quality, equitable distribution of education, and inclusion of various traditional expectations? This book explores notions of quality as understood within various systems of national, formal, and nonformal education. Also it considers the tensions that arise with the introduction of new standardized notions of quality in relation to international measures and educational reforms in developing countries. In all cases, specific national issues and concerns compete with global agendas.Challenges to quality that are given particular attention in the book chapters include changing definitions of quality, high expectations for education and issues with implementation, and the introduction of English as a means to achieve quality in a globalizing world. Special attention is also given to possible actions that support a more equitable education without ignoring the requisite of quality. The final chapter suggests three models/choices for seeking higher quality and guiding the educational future of nations.

The Structure and Agency of Women's Education
The Structure and Agency of Women's Education

Author: Mary Ann Maslak

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2008-01-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 9780791472767

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Offers research on educational policies, programs, and practices for adolecent girls and adult women, from both comparative international perspectives.

International Education Systems and Contemporary Education Reforms
International Education Systems and Contemporary Education Reforms

Author: Adel T. Al-Bataineh

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 9780761830467

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Al-Bataineh and Nur-Awaleh's (both education, Illinois State U.,) text is designed for undergraduate and graduate students who want to improve their understanding of educational systems, formal school institutions, and educational reform worldwide. The text compares and analyzes systems and reforms in both developed and developing countries in several Islamic, Latin American, and African countries, and covers a number of themes, including the current systems, contemporary reforms, the historical development of educational policy and schooling, the role of national and international agencies in education, and post-public education in the developing world. Also suitable as a reference for researchers, educators, governmental and educational agencies, and university international studies programs. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Insights Into Gender Equity, Equality and Power Relations in Sub-saharan Africa
Insights Into Gender Equity, Equality and Power Relations in Sub-saharan Africa

Author: Mansah Prah

Publisher: African Books Collective

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9970252348

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Since gender entered the development discourse in the Seventies, African countries have increasingly taken the concept on board in policy and practice. This concern may be due to either one or a combination of the following factors: the ideological positioning of African countries, demands by their donors and development partners, and demands by organised local groups and NGOs. Gender in the development discourse ought to transform power relations between men and women and shift them to social relations that reflect their equal access to productive resources, opportunities and social and material benefits. The result of such actions should be an achievement of comparable status of women and men. This volume, initiated by OSSREA, seeks to examine in more depth, issues regarding the gender-power imbalance in sub-Saharan African countries, with a specific focus on the eastern and southern African regions. The chapters in this book present research that examines and analyses the effectiveness and efficiency of gender mainstreaming policies, strategies and projects developed and implemented by national and international actors. The themes inter-weave with each other although they address gender issues in specific countries and specific contexts. This can be explained by the shared colonial and post-colonial heritage of African countries. It is useful, therefore, to view the structure of the book as a spiral of inter-connected issues that address similar themes, approaching them from different levels. Purely for ease of reading, the contributions have been organised into three parts, with over arching themes that at first glance may seem not to fit well together. A theme that runs through all the chapters is the persistence of patriarchal values and attitudes in Africa and its constraining effect on the achievement of gender equity and equality.