September 2011
Joel Samoff, Martial Dembélé and E. Molapi Sebatane
Start small but think big. Yet, “going to scale”—orchestrated replication— has proved difficult to achieve. This extensive literature review concludes that rather than reproducing the reform, what must be scaled up are the conditions that permitted the initial reform to be successful and the local roots that can sustain it. Doing so requires charismatic and effective local leadership, strong local demand, and adequate (not necessarily massive) funding.
November 2010
Leon Tikly
This working paper sets out the evolution of the overall approach and framework for researching the quality of education in Africa.
November 2010
Angeline M. Barrett, Michael Crossley & Hillary A. Dachi
This article reflects critically on the experience of a research consortium made up of academic institutions in UK and sub-Saharan Africa. It analyses participation in setting the research agenda, distribution of leadership and forms of capacity building within the consortium.
November 2010
John Clegg and Oksana Afitska.
This working paper investigates the practices that emerge in teachers who are trying to provide a bilingual education in the absence of central planning and organisation.
November 2010
Michèle Smith
The work presented here investigates which pupil background, school context and school resources (human and physical) factors affect individual pupil academic attainment by concentrating on developing separate multi-level models for individual learners of similar socio-economic status.
July 2010
Michèle Smith, Angeline M. Barrett
This working paper investigates what material resources in the home and social influences give primary school students an advantage in learning to read by analysing data collected by the Southern and East African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) in six low income countries and four small middle income states.
May 2010
Sharon Tao
This working paper investigates how the Capabilities Approach (CA) can be applied to the modality of formal schooling, particularly regarding school improvement interventions in Tanzania. It proposes several theoretical and practical applications of CA that form the foundation for an actual school improvement intervention in Sub-Saharan Africa.
January 2010
Hillary A. Dachi, Ndibalema R. Alphonce, with George Kahangwa, Raymond Boniface, Mislay Moshi
This working paper presents a baseline study of what public primary schools’ head teachers consider as the role of school leadership and management in improving quality, using quantitative and qualitative data collected through questionnaires within EdQual's Leadership and Management of Change project.
September 2009
Ola Uduku
This working paper considers if the infrastructure and associated resources used to deliver pre-school feeding schemes in primary schools in South Africa and Ghana are adequate. Two case studies are presented, and it considers their achievements and potential to develop them to enhance education quality and equity.
September 2009
Sheila Aikman
This working paper examines how indigenous peoples in Africa are re-defining education through strategies aimed at recognition of rights and social justice, showing their attempts to define and achieve a quality education relevant and meaningful to their lives which could reframe education for the benefit of all learners.
September 2009
Leon Tikly, Angeline M. Barrett
This working paper critiques the human capital and human rights approaches framing debates on education quality in low income countries, setting out an alternative theoretical approach for understanding this from a social justice perspective, drawing on the ideas of Fraser and Sen on social justice and capabilities.
September 2009
R.Bosu, A.Dare, H.A.Dachi, M.Fertig
This working paper focuses on notions of ‘social justice’ in an African educational context, reporting on a small-scale research project with primary headteachers in Ghana and Tanzania engaging with Action Research to bring about changes they feel will benefit pupil learning, detailing positive impacts arising from this.
September 2009
Filiz Polat with Joseph Kisanji
This working paper approaches inclusive education as a means towards social justice and social inclusion. Drawing on an ongoing project on developing an index for inclusion in Tanzania to situate inclusive education within the debate on social justice, it suggests despite progress, inclusive, just and quality education is far off.
September 2009
Edmond Were, Jolly Rubagiza, Rosamund Sutherland
This working paper argues that, despite efforts to provide Rwandan teachers, learners and communities with opportunities to take advantage of ICT’s potential, increasing numbers of people in some social groups subsist outside the knowledge society. Reducing this digital divide needs recognition of the challenges these groups face.
September 2009
Anjum Halai
This working paper focuses on gender awareness issues as a dimension of addressing education quality in Pakistan from the perspective of social justice. It suggests improvement in curriculum and instruction quality is integral, identifying social justice questions in maths education and making policy and practice recommendations.
March 2009
Angeline M. Barrett
This working paper critiques a 2006 proposal by three World Bank economists for a Millennium Learning Goal (MLG) to replace the education Millennium Development Goal (MDG) from the perspective of education quality. It raises six main criticisms of that specific proposal, suggesting any MLG would need cautious formulation.
February 2008
Anjum Halai, with Sherwin Rodrigues & Tauseef Akhlaq
This working paper focuses on collaborative action research (CAR) as an approach to teacher empowerment, and issues emerging from experiences with CAR in Pakistan in EdQual’s Implementing Curriculum Change project. Field evidence shows CAR is an ethically and technically sound approach to knowledge generation and change.
October 2007
Angeline M. Barrett, Sajid Ali, John Clegg, J.Enrique Hinostroza, John Lowe, Jutta Nikel, Mario Novelli, George Oduro, Mario Pillay, Leon Tikly & Guoxing Yu
This working paper reviews recent literature on teaching and learning process quality in schools in low income countries, illustrated in initiatives to improve this. It focuses on three key areas: meeting diverse learners’ needs; curriculum change trends; enabling teachers, including teaching and learning resource provision.
September 2007
Leon Tikly, Angeline M. Barrett
This working paper outlines the approach and rationale underpinning EdQual's research programme. It critiques mainstream conceptualisations of quality, developing a rich, contextualised understanding of what counts as education quality that is influenced by critical theory, postcolonial theory and political economy.
September 2007
George Oduro, Hillary Dachi, Michael Fertig, Jane Rarieya
This working paper examines issues facing primary school leaders in developing countries. It examines how 'educational quality' is delineated, and analyses recent policy initiatives on this in Ghana, Tanzania and Pakistan, discussing their implications for school leaders. It calls for further focused research in this area.
September 2007
Guoxing Yu, Sally Thomas
This working paper describes in detail initial analyses of SACMEQ II data, using multilevel modelling techniques, to develop general models of school effectiveness for SACMEQ II member countries and specific models for Tanzania (including Zanzibar). This research was undertaken as part of EdQual’s SeeQ project.
July 2007
Guoxing Yu
This working paper discusses the history and insights of school effectiveness research (SER) from both developed and developing countries. It raises the importance of context in understanding indicator transferability, and outlines the potential contribution to SER knowledge from EdQual’s SeeQ project.
June 2007
R.Barwell, K.Bishop, S.Erduran, A.Halai, D.Iyamuremye, T.Nyabanyaba, N.F.Rizvi, S.Rodrigues, J.Rubagiza, A.Uworwabayeho
This working paper reviews literature in South Africa, Rwanda and Pakistan on curriculum change, gender equity and poverty alleviation, including: curriculum change for education quality; improving maths & science teaching, learning, and teacher education; improving gender equity; empowering learners, educators & communities.
February 2007
Casmir M. Rubagumya
This working paper explores how the concept of linguistic citizenship can be applied to Tanzania in terms of bilingual education delivery and addressing issues of equity, quality education and tackling poverty, and shows how EdQual’s Language and Literacy Project attempts to empower rural communities in this way.
November 2006
Anjum Halai
This working paper identifies five key principles of ethical research around consent, confidentiality, anonymity, harm and reciprocity, discussing their application in EdQual’s project Implementing Curriculum Change, and reflecting on issues of power, empowerment and ownership in such participatory action research.
January 2006
Angeline M. Barrett, Rita Chawla-Duggan, John Lowe, Jutta Nikel, Eugenia Ukpo
This working paper reviews key documents influencing the understanding of educational quality in low income countries amongst international agencies and researchers based in Anglophone countries, identifying five recurring dimensions of quality in the debate: effectiveness, efficiency, equality, relevance & sustainability.
December 2005
Justinian J.C.J. Galabawa, Ndibalema N. Alphonse
This working paper reviews literature and research on education quality indicators, suggesting a taxonomy of these which identifies factors and variables to include in an assessment of education provision quality either in a single setting or for comparison across different settings.
December 2005
Yaw A. Ankomah, Janet A. Koomson, Rosemary S. Bosu with George K.T. Oduro
This working paper reviews literature on education quality from Ghana, as well as from elsewhere in Africa, Europe and the US. It particularly focuses on definitions, dimensions and indicators of education quality, and provides examples of successful education quality initiatives in Ghana.
