Compares the relationship between level of vocational qualifications in the work force and manufacturing productivity in Great Britain, Germany, and other European countries. Discusses the need for British vocational certification procedures within the education system; such components have raised skill levels and reduced dropout rates in France…

Argues that social exclusion, as evidenced by unemployment and educational failure, is a persistent structural feature in European countries. Suggests that multicultural education and other educational strategies should provide global awareness of the world's major problems and the solidarity of mankind and training in nonviolent democratic…

Discusses the "qualifications" required of young people to enter the adult world, and the role of education as gatekeeper. Suggests that rapid technological advances and accompanying worldwide social changes will force educational changes, away from industrialized models and toward alternative forms of "postcompulsory" education and lifelong…

Defines "nonformal education" as encompassing the educational influences of all of society's institutions. Suggests that nonformal education may be the best approach to aid for development in developing nations, as well as to lifelong learning in European and other developed nations. (SV)

Describes three important phenomena of European education: the great expansion of secondary and higher education since World War II, the rapid internationalization of education, and issues of language. Discusses implications of these issues for comparative education as a field of study. (SV)

Compares policies and attitudes toward drug education in the schools in the United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and Spain with regard to the placement of drug education in the secondary curriculum, whether elementary school children should receive drug education, and the extent of related teacher education. (SV)

In sub-Saharan Africa, aggregate data show that female literacy is associated with higher agricultural productivity and is more strongly correlated than GNP with mortality and immunization rates of young children. A case study of Gambia confirms these relationships, with high female illiteracy apparently impeding both human and economic…

Describes the development and expansion of formal education for women in Saudi Arabia since 1960. Discusses girls' curriculum in elementary and secondary schools, the influence of conservative attitudes toward sex roles, and the growth of female higher education despite a lack of female employment. Contains 20 references. (SV)

Challenges conventional views of colonial schooling and its outcomes through analysis of education on the Torres Straits Islands, 1873-1985. Argues that, despite racist educational policies, the schooling introduced social change to the community and that the schooling that Islanders actually got was influenced by local context and customs,…

Compares recent policy changes in Alberta and British Columbia concerning preschool and primary education. Discusses the conflicts involved in a movement away from centrally imposed models of norm-referenced attainment to a more child-focused developmentally based curriculum in a flexible nongraded setting. Contains 30 references. (SV)

India's national policy for education and national curriculum for elementary and secondary education focus on equality of educational opportunity, improvement of schools and teaching methods, increased vocational secondary education, and multicultural sensitivity. Prospects for implementation are discussed. The structure of the Indian school…

Compares educational policies, strategies, and failures of Grenada's two recent governments--the (Marxist) People's Revolutionary Government and the New National Party, elected after the U.S. invasion. Suggests that political change alone cannot transform education in the face of unchanged economic, social, and educational environments. Contains…

Introduces this theme issue on postapartheid changes in South African education. Discusses political factors and consensus building in educational policy making, needs to expand access to all levels of education and simultaneously improve quality, and the challenges of reconstructing higher education and dismantling a deliberately inequitable…

Analyzes political aspects of postapartheid educational transition in South Africa, 1990-93. Focuses on educational politics as a process of negotiating incremental reform, changes in educational objectives and strategies of key progressive organizations, the role of the state in civil society, and the relative importance of equality versus…

A cohort of 782 Soweto (black South African) students was traced during students' first 4 years of schooling, 1987-90 (apartheid still in effect). Only 55 percent completed second grade in 4 years, but repetition in grade was a much greater problem than dropping out. Discusses postapartheid policy implications for improving educational efficiency…