Despite tremendous success in improving access and enrolment of pupils in the Ghanaian basic education system in recent times, learning outcomes still remain below expected levels. Through a systematic review of literature on international programmes and research on activity-based learning (ABL), this article highlights exemplary practices which…

The author describes the steps taken by a research team, of which she was part, to develop a specific methodology for assessing student attainment in primary school, working with the Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (PASEC) of the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN). This methodology provides…

This article describes a collaborative action research process in pre-school and primary education in Spain during a four-year period (2006-2010). The aim was the need to promote a level of reflection among the participants as to their teaching practice. The methodology used was a technologically mediated action research process. The results are…

This article features Discovery Children's Centre, one of the highest quality centres in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Discovery Children's Centre believes that children, who may have little or no voice in a democratic society, can be heard if some adult will speak on their behalf. Even as it has grown from 35 to 230 children, quality has…

This article reviews the literature base on class size reduction and proposes a new analytic framework that we believe provides practically useful explanations of how primary class size reduction works. It presents descriptions of classroom practice and grounded explanations for how class size reduction affects educational core activities by…

Conflicts all over the world result in people living in diaspora, usually maintaining strong ties with their countries of origin. As many of them are well educated and dedicated to their country, expectations of the role they can play in the development of their home country are high. This article reflects on the contribution of the South Sudanese…

In the last decade the national "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan" (SSA) programme has focussed on universaling access to elementary education (Grades I-VIII). Most recently the Right to Education Act provides the legislative framework to guarantee schooling to all children between 6 and 14 years of age. It remains the case however that less than…

In most parts of the world today, the goal of providing all children with free and Universal Primary Education (UPE) has received broad national and international support and some educational systems have evolved from predominantly "fee-charging" towards "fee-free" status in recent times. In Ghana, for example, the endorsement…

Basic education is universal education, which aims to improve the basic quality of a nation's people. In the three decades since reform and opening up, earth-shaking changes have taken place in the quality of China's basic education. This article describes the path of development and changes in China's basic education over the past thirty years…

It is widely accepted that professional experience or practicum is "a critically important part of teacher education courses and is consistently valued highly by student teachers" (eg Ramsey, 2000; Teaching Australia, 2006; Parliament of Australia, 2007). In Australia and overseas there is a growing emphasis on teacher educators working…

For many years now E-learning researchers have been discussing the use of laptops in educational settings. The One Laptop per Child project, (OLPC project), has been used in developing countries since the year 2002 to avoid the increase of the digital divide between those with ready access to technology and those with limited access. Austria has…

Over the past six years, the authors have been project leaders for three distance education initiatives in Cape Verde and Mozambique: (1) a blended learning master's degree in multimedia in education for faculty in Cape Verdean public higher education institutions (2005-2008); (2) a teacher training programme for 1375 elementary teachers provided…

Prejudice and systematic discrimination have often been mentioned as major causes for the chronic underachievement of Roma students. In this paper we present a case study of a Romanian teacher involved in Second Chance, an educational program implemented in Romania in 2004 for the benefit of disadvantaged groups such as the Roma population. Since…

This article deals with the politics of aid partnerships in the education sector of Benin following an anthropological policy research approach based on empirical data. I present local debates on primary education and the New Study Programmes, the latest education reform introduced nationwide in 1999. The different perceptions of the reform…

Even if the results of international student assessment studies such as PISA or TIMSS show that girls have been catching up in mathematics and natural sciences, there are still remarkable gender differences in the number of males and females studying and working in the technological fields after basic education. Technology is still a…