This report examines the current state of open and flexible technical-vocational education and training (TVET) in nine Pacific Commonwealth countries: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has commissioned the Open Polytechnic to complete this report to…

Results-based management (RBM) is an approach to programme planning and management that integrates strategy, people, resources, processes and measurements to improve decision-making, transparency and accountability. The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) began the adoption of a RBM model with its 2003-2006 Three-Year Plan. This led to a significantly…

The Sierra Leone National Education Master Plan 1997-2006 deals with all aspects of the formal and non-formal sectors of the education system, providing support for basic education, education for the physically challenged, disadvantaged and gifted learners, women and girls' education, technical/vocational and science education, tertiary education,…

Sensitivity to someone's gender is crucial, not only in life, but also in learning. In developing countries where the opportunities for face-to-face education are often limited, open and distance learning (ODL) can provide basic education, skills training and lifelong learning. Appropriate ODL materials are especially important for women who live…

This publication of collected papers resulted from the International Experts Meeting held November 15-17, 2004. Contents include: (1) Keynote Address; (2) Presentations; (3) Country Papers; and (4) Literacy Perspectives. Foreword, Introduction, Biographical information and List of Abbreviations are also included. The Keynote Address was Literacy…

This is the final report of a three-and-a-half-year project that pilot tested the usefulness of various information and communication technology (ICT) applications in the provision of literacy programmes. The report is based on data collected by in-country evaluators during the term of the project as well as from a follow-up study a year later.…

Ideological arguments are made for open learning, economic ones for distance education. If it can produce similar results to those of conventional education at a lower cost, then distance education has a powerful appeal. With increasing demand for access to educational opportunities at all levels, and often decreasing budgets in real terms for…

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) is renewing its commitment to the enhancement of literacy in the developing countries of the Commonwealth by establishing a program area focused on Literacy and Livelihoods. While the program activities will build on the work COL is already engaged in, they will also be informed through consultation with…