The aim of the paper is to discuss the system of double-shift schooling and assess it from economic, social and educational angles referring to different cases from Sub-Saharan African countries. The paper makes an attempt to prove that despite certain challenges that it faces, the system of double-shift schooling is the best solution for poor countries to achieve the millennium goal of Education for All with limited resources, and an optimum strategy for rich countries to use resources more efficiently. Thus, if wisely implemented and managed, double-shift schools can be the best way to achieve the goal of universal education in both poor and rich countries. (Contains 1 footnote.).
In a growing revisionist tradition, comparative educational scholars challenge conventional assumptions about quality education as a singular undertaking dominated by standardised assessments and globalisation influences. The contributors to this volume illustrate the complexities and global dimensions of educational quality that emerged in their research. Several chapters critique educational reforms employing assessments aligned to global standards and large scale assessments, revealing how considerations of contextual factors, internal needs and local traditions are essential for developing a quality curriculum or for overhauling a national education system. Most chapters interrogate the uses and misuses of standardised assessment results. The contributors reveal the importance of asking critical questions about quality education: how to access it and for what purposes; what contextual and cultural factors are important; what implementation issues and local-level realities must be considered for true understanding of standardized assessment results; what content, skills and values are necessary and desirable ingredients; what roles teachers and administrators play; and what benefits accrue in terms of outcomes for employment and labor market needs or for achieving autonomy and stakeholder participation. Critiques of narrow interpretations of standardised assessment data contrast with research-based evidence that participation in large scale assessments such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS can indeed be beneficial to identify needed reform refinements and implementation shortcomings. Specific country cases include Brazil, Canada, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and the Philippines. Other chapters provide insights on quality education issues worldwide. The volume offers readers a panorama of views on the diversity of paths to quality education.
Double-shift schooling primarily aims to extend access and minimize unit costs. However, some systems only achieve those goals at the expense of educational quality. Policy-makers may be faced by difficult choices when designing systems. This book highlights the advantages and problems of double-shift systems.
Children at risk of marginalization in education are found in all societies. At first glance, The lives of these children may appear poles apart. The daily experiences of slum dwellers in Kenya, ethnic minority children in Viet Nam and a Roma child in Hungary are very different. What they have in common are missed opportunities to develop their potential, realize their hopes and build a better future through education.A decade has passed since world leaders adopted the Education for All goals. While progress has been made, millions of children are still missing out on their right to education. Reaching the marginalized identifies some of the root causes of disadvantage, both within education and beyond, and provides examples of targeted policies and practices that successfully combat exclusion. Set against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, The Report calls for a renewed financing commitment by aid donors and recipient governments alike to meet the Education for All goals by 2015.This is the eighth edition of the annual EFA Global Monitoring Report. The Report includes statistical indicators on all levels of education in more than 200 countries and territories.
This book focuses on education in small states. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of different aspects of educational provision in political jurisdictions having a very small population – populations which encounter specific challenges, threats and opportunities. This book presents a balance in regional representation – covering the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. The contributions pay particular attention to basic education, higher education, entrepreneurship training, post-primary education and the impact of globalization on educational restructuring and aid delivery in specific small state regions. This book was published as a special issue of the Comparative Education.
The 2013/2014 Education for All Global Monitoring Report shows that a lack of attention to education quality and a failure to reach the marginalized have contributed to a learning crisis that needs urgent attention. Worldwide, 250 million children many of them from disadvantaged backgrounds are not learning the basics. Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All describes how policy-makers can support and sustain a quality education system for all children, regardless of background, by providing the best teachers. The Report also documents global progress in achieving Education for All goals and provides lessons for setting a new education agenda post-2015. In addition, the Report identifies that insufficient financing is hindering advances in education.
African social development is often explained from outsider perspectives that are mainly European and Euro-American, leaving African indigenous discourses and ways of knowing and doing absent from discussions and debates on knowledge and development. This book is intended to present Africanist indigenous voices in current debates on economic, educational, political and social development in Africa. The authors and contributors to the volume present bold and timely ideas and scholarship for defining Africa through its challenges, possible policy formations, planning and implementation at the local, regional, and national levels. The book also reveals insightful examinations of the hype, the myths and the realities of many topics of concern with respect to dominant development discourses, and challenges the misconceptions and misrepresentations of indigenous perspectives on knowledge productions and overall social well-being or lack thereof. The volume brings together researchers who are concerned with comparative education, international development, and African development, research and practice in particular. Policy makers, institutional planners, education specialists, governmental and non-governmental managers and the wider public should all benefit from the contents and analyses of this book.
This edition of the Global Education Monitoring Report (GEM Report) is the first in a series that will assess the progress of education under the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
