Articles from 2006/7

 


On the road to universal primary education

Author: Ruth Levine and Nancy Birdsall
Education is an end in itself, a human right, and a vital part of the capacity of individuals to lead lives they value. It gives people in developing countries the skills they need to improve their own lives and to help transform their societies…

Payments for progress   A hands-off approach to foreign aid

Author: Owen Barder and Nancy Birdsall
At the start of the millennium, the international community committed itself to help developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). But there are significant differences of opinion about the…

Exploring the potential of open schooling

Author: Susan Phillips
The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) was established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1987 to support and expand the use of open and distance learning (ODL) to increase opportunities for…

Under-achieving Caribbean boys   Marginalisation or gender privileging?

Author: Mark Figueroa
The education of boys in the English-speaking Caribbean has been a topic for hot debate over the last 20 years. It has attracted writers from a variety of fields including anthropology, economics…

Schools and gendered identities

Author: Máiréad Dunne
This paper presents findings from a study of schools in Botswana and Ghana, which focused on how processes of school life influence gender identities (Dunne et al, 2005). The theoretical analysis…

Knowledge management strategies for distance education

Author: Sir John Daniel
In nearly all areas of human endeavour, technology has revolutionised the way we do things over the last three centuries. It has done so at an accelerating pace, with the result that today ordinary…

Monitoring gender equality in education

Author: Jyotsna Jha
In the past, it was common to use the notions of gender parity and equality interchangeably in the context of education. However, although the two are still regarded as being linked, they…

Issues of gender in education in Pakistan

Author: Fareeha Zafar
Pakistan, with an area of 803,940 square kilometres, borders India in the east and southeast, Iran in the southwest, Afghanistan in the north and northwest, and the Arabian Sea in the south…

Children living with and affected by HIV

Author: Rachel Baggaley
Education is a fundamental right for every child. Principle 7 of the United Nations (UN) Declaration of the Rights of the Child states as follows: The child is entitled to receive education, which shall be free…

Education in emergencies

Author: Margaret Sinclair
‘Education in emergencies’ refers to education for populations affected by unforeseen situations such as armed conflict or natural disasters. There have been over 50 significant armed conflicts since the end of the Cold War…

Conflict and education for all

Author: Alan Smith
Education is an essential tool for human development and the eradication of poverty. It is the means by which successive generations develop the knowledge, values and skills for future economic, social and cultural development…

Education reconstruction in post-conflict Sierra Leone

Author: Alpha Tejan Wurie
The West African State of Sierra Leone has a population of about five million. It is blessed with lush forests, fertile land, and several minerals, including diamond, gold and iron. Divided into a Colony and Protectorate…

Reaching nomadic communities Providing inclusive quality education

Author: Fatimah Kelleher
Providing education to nomadic communities is one of the most challenging and urgent issues currently facing Commonwealth education policy-makers, practitioners and other actors within the field. On the one hand…

The role of ODL in curriculum development

Author: Helen Lentell
Open and distance learning (ODL) has the potential to play a major role in curriculum development, particularly in developing countries. But to achieve this potential, it is essential that educators and administrators…

ODL and ICTs for teacher development

Author: Sir John Daniel and Mohan Menon
The essence of work by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is the application of technology to learning for purposes of development. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be…

Joining the dots in the Pacific Ocean

Author: Kaye Schofield
It is hard not to be passionate about the Pacific. Its physical beauty, geographic, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity and its long, rich and complex history make it one of the most fascinating regions on earth…

 Teacher education in the Pacific: issues and challenges

Author: Priscilla Puamau
The aim of this paper is to discuss issues and challenges facing teacher education in the Pacific. The ideas in this paper are taken from my collective experience of over two decades of working in teacher…

Facing the challenges of tertiary education in a changing world

Author: J S Rowett
The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) has a proud history of achievement spanning almost a century. When the Association was established, Europe was one year from the beginning of its 30 years’ war…

Commonwealth teacher migrants

Author: Ivan Reid
This paper provides a short overview of a piece of research into the recruitment of Commonwealth teachers to countries other than their own and their experiences, commissioned by the Commonwealth…

International student mobility in the Commonwealth

Author: Kees Maxey
Since the first conference of the Commonwealth Education Ministers in Oxford in 1959, the issue of student mobility between the member states of the Commonwealth has been  seen as important. Young…

Distance education in South Africa

Author: Jennifer Glennie
The advent of South Africa’s first democratic government in 1994 signalled the beginning of significant policy changes in education, including a notable emphasis on distance education. Distance Education…

The Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth

Author: Neil Butcher and Paul West
A virtual university network has been under construction during the past few years. With minimal fanfare, the Virtual University for the Small States of the Commonwealth (VUSSC) has gained the participation…

The rising tide of gifted and talented children in New Zealand

Author: Debbie Smith
New Zealand has drawn very much from the theory behind Joseph Renzulli’s use of the metaphor, ‘A rising tide lifts all ships’, for meeting the needs of gifted and talented students in public schools. This theory…

Developing Singapore school leaders

Author: David Ng Foo Seong
Singapore has always related its economic development and racial harmony to education. School reforms received added impetus in the wake of the 1985-86 economic recession. An Economic Committee recommended…

The business of higher education in Malaysia

Author: Hon-Chan Chai
The present  Malaysia’s higher education policy is aimed at developing a ‘world-class’ higher education system that would help transform its production-based economy into a knowledge-based economy to achieve ‘developed nation’ status…

Can transnational education assist development aims?

Author: Joanne Purves
With such a large proportion of its population under 30, and basic literacy and numeracy high on the agenda across South Asia and Africa, education is clearly an issue of paramount importance to the Commonwealth. Have the…

Improving classroom teaching and learning: three key ideas

Author: Vena Jules, Anthony Layne, Peter Kutnick and David Stephens
Background  This paper draws together three key ideas of education-based research with a view to enhancing social pedagogic and non-traditional classroom approaches for primary school teachers in…

The building of partnerships in child friendly schools

Author: Changu Mannathoko
Introduction  Multi sectoral collaboration in education has never been more important than now when education systems are confronted by the multiple threats of HIV and AIDS, increasing numbers of children who are orphans…

The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative

Author: Desmond Bermingham
Introduction  The Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI) is a global partnership to help low income countries to achieve the education Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of ensuring that  every child receives a good quality primary education…

Private schools for the poor   Implications for Commonwealth Ministers of Education

Author: James Tooley
Easterly’s dilemma  William Easterly begins and ends his latest book, The White Man’s Burden (2006) with the heart-rending story of 10-year old Amaretch, an Ethiopian girl whose name means ‘beautiful one’: ‘Driving out of Addis Ababa’, he passes…

Financing secondary education in developing countries

Author: Keith M Lewin
This paper explores the challenges that face developing countries seeking to build on success in improving participation in primary schooling in the context of Education for All (UNESCO, 2000), and the education-related…

The funding and financing of schools in South Africa

Author: Duncan Hindle
South Africa’s post-liberation experience in the resourcing of public schools is primarily a function of the country’s unique history of apartheid education, and the struggle against that system…

Public–private partnerships

Author: Michael Latham
Introduction  One third of the world’s population lives in countries where the ‘Education for All’ goals of universal access, completion and learning cannot be reached by 2015 solely through the linear expansion of existing…

Towards the renewal of African universities

Author: Akilagpa Sawyerr
Over the course of the last decade, particularly since the turn of the century, there has been widespread concern about the condition of Africa and its people. The concern arises principally from the realisation…

Household financing of basic education

Author: Mark Bray
Introduction  The international community holds the strong view that national governments, assisted when possible and appropriate by international support, have the obligation to ensure that basic education is provided for all their…

The new miracle of ‘free’ content in education

Author: Wayne Mackintosh
Sir John Daniel, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) speaks of social software and Open Education Resources (OERs) as a new miracle in education. The miracle of OERs is that sharing…

Education inequalities around the world

Author: Deon Filmer
Introduction  Measured by the percentage of children who reach the last year of primary school, the primary completion rate, the world has made substantial progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of…

Education in a democratic and multicultural Commonwealth

Author: Jagdish S Gundara
Introduction  The following discussion on education and democracy takes as its premise that issues of multiculturalism include not only contemporary aspects of diversity based on language, religion, nationality and social class…

Development of NEPAD e-schools initiative

Author: Peter E Kinyanjui
Introduction  There is a new partnership that is driving business in Africa. The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has been widely accepted as the framework for Africa’s development. A brainchild of the…

Council for Education in the Commonwealth

Author: Peter Williams
Introduction  A major challenge for the 21st century is to devise more effective mechanisms for making international bodies and their activities more accountable to the world community. Good governance is required of international…

New ways of working in partnership for education

Author: Jill Hart and Chike Anyanwu
The Commonwealth Education Fund (CEF) is premised on the notion that civil society organisations working in partnership can help make public schools work for all children. From its inception, CEF has…

Lifelong Learning for Farmers travels the last mile

Author: Krishna Alluri
Lifelong Learning for Farmers (L3Farmers) is a Commonwealth of Learning (COL) initiative designed to help poor rural communities acquire relevant knowledge in a sustainable manner for economic…

Inclusive education in Brunei Darussalam

Author: Teng Leong Koay
Brunei Darussalam is an independent Islamic Sultanate located in the northern part of Borneo in Southeast Asia. It is an oil rich country with a land area of 5,765 square kilometers that shares its borders…

The use of media empowerment Addressing health issues and other MDGs

Author: David Walker
In order to be truly of service to the underprivileged and rural poor, the appropriate use of technology must create conditions and mechanisms that can provide people with genuine access to information. Such mechanisms…

The Commonwealth Teachers’ Group – vision and mission

Author: Steve Sinnott
It is easy to become cynical about our ability to change systems, about working for peace and justice, about human rights flouted in so many places throughout the world. Yet our young people need not be tainted with that cynicism…

The DfES Global Gateway   International collaboration and policy dialogue in education

Author: Mary Stiasny
In 2004 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) set out its vision to develop a world class system of education in England in Putting the World into World-Class Education: An international strategy for education, skills…

Out of school missing boys – a study from Lesotho

Author: Pulane J Lefoka
This paper is based on the findings of a study on boys’ underachievement that was undertaken by the Commonwealth in some Commonwealth countries. Lesotho participated in the study and selected the Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre…

Freedom as learning   Life skills education and sustainable human development in a world with HIV and AIDS

Author: Anna Maria Hoffmann and Rick Olson
In order to fully expand the freedom of people, education needs to be seen in terms of equitable access to learning that enhances capability and viable options with regard to HIV and AIDS…

In the best interests of the child   Conceptualisation and guidelines in the context of education

Author: Trynie Davel
Introduction  The fact that the decision of a court concerning a child has to be in the best interests of that specific child, has for some time been an established common-law principle in a number of private law…

Global citizenship, our values and international education

Author: Stuart Mole
A competitive global economy places new demands on national education systems to meet the range and scale of skills required. In turn, high quality, world class education requires partnership between different…

Skills in a global economy

Author: Chris Humphries
Introduction  Over the last 10 years, workforce skills have become increasingly important on government agendas around the world, as the realities of global competition have become clearer. Every nation now…

Multigrade teaching   Can it support achievement of quality universal primary education?

Author: Virgílio Juvane
In recent years, access to primary education in Commonwealth countries has seen remarkable progress. The 2006 Commonwealth report on the performance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) records…

The lost generation in Africa

Author: Sonny Leong
Ten years ago, the UK’s Conservative government terminated the Education Low-price Books Scheme (ELBS) . This scheme was funded from 1960 to 1996 by the UK’s Overseas Development Administration…