This article critically examines the extent to which one emerging NGO facilitates the participation of its beneficiaries and other stakeholders in the decision-making processes at the identification, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of basic education programmes in Malawi. The author argues that despite the comparative advantage of this…

I reflect on the preceding five contributions in this issue by focusing on the power dimensions of participation. I emphasize how power underlies and frames not only the activities and management of participatory development, but also our own personal/institutional involvement as development researchers and workers. I end with some thoughts on…

This article explores use of several terms that signify Islam, and provides guidelines to clarify their use in internal and external discourses. Building on this foundation, the article delineates a typology of Islamic education and their associated institutions. This enhances understanding of important conceptual differences that hinge upon…

The paper assesses the dominant discourse on Islam and education that argues for an education derived from an exclusively "Islamic" vision. In addition to exploring the historical roots of this discourse, the paper analyses it with respect to its (i) arguments for an Islamic vision of education, (ii) conception of Islam, and (iii) proposals for…

Since 2001 many observers of education in the Muslim world have expressed concerns about the radicalizing influence of madrasahs. These critiques often assume that the ichotomization of sacred and secular common to civic society in the West is a necessary ingredient of any educational reforms designed to prevent the spread of religious extremism…

Since the 1980s the mission of the national citizenship education curriculum in Pakistan has been the Islamization of society. The government curriculum guidelines require textbooks to emphasize Islam as the national ideology of the state of Pakistan. Recognizing the deleterious effect of an exclusivist curriculum on the civic unity of the nation,…

This study investigated philosophical approaches to teaching held by pre-service teachers in Iran and the US. The study's participants were 30 pre-service teachers from Iran, a predominantly Muslim country, and 30 American pre-service teachers. Data were collected using the 105-item Philosophy of Education Scale (POES, Author A, 2003) composed of…

In this literature review, we explore the potential role of education in supporting peacebuilding and societal transformation after violent conflict. Following a critical analysis of the literature published by academics and practitioners, we identify the notion of humanisation (as in the seminal works of Paulo Freire and others) as a unifying…

To identify the themes that define the lives of a generation living in a conflict-ridden post-war society, I explore the changing views of Lebanese students through an analysis of the personal narrative texts that they created during my creative writing workshops over a 16-year period (1997-2012). Increasingly, young Lebanese feel trapped in a…

The curriculum has been proposed as a powerful means with the potential to initiate social transformation. It reflects the dominant social, economical and political discourses and for this reason it seems reasonable to situate reconciliatory discourses in relation to the curriculum. Whilst curriculum scholars mostly agree that we need to seek new…

The paper uses data from a household survey of three rural communities and interviews in the Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana to investigate the costs incurred by households that choose either fee-free public schools or low-fee private schools. The paper shows that both provisions impose costs that place those with lower…

A School Management Committee (SMC) is an administrative tool adopted in many developing countries to decentralise administrative and financial responsibilities at school level, while involving local people in decision-making and making education more responsive to demands. I question the assumption linking administrative decentralisation and…

This paper raises a number of critical questions regarding the contribution of education to peacebuilding. Despite recent calls for greater collaboration between the two fields, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the change theories through which education may contribute to peacebuilding processes. This paper outlines developments over the…

The challenges of ensuring equity among partners of very different academic power and status, across continents, within complex research projects involving differing disciplines with their own norms, and balancing needs for capacity development of individuals and for institutions can be major sources of conflicts. While each of these concerns has…

Higher education in developing nations is typically viewed from a dependency perspective--institutions are seen as merely recipients of Western knowledge, aid and reform efforts. Nevertheless, universities in both the centre and the periphery are dealing with tensions between protecting the public good and embracing neoliberal values based on a…