Drawing on Everett Rogers's theory of the diffusion of innovations, this article identifies the barriers, challenges, and successes in the adoption of technology training by teacher trainers in Cambodia. The analysis was based on data collected from an open-ended survey, face-to-face interviews, and document analysis. Findings reveal that the…

Citizenship and citizenship education have been topics of considerable debate in many countries over the past 2 decades in both public and academic discourses. Scholars have raised concerns that increasing diversity in multi-cultural societies and globalization challenge current conceptualizations and practices of citizenship. Policy makers and…

A partial equilibrium framework (user charges/government subsidy) analyzes optimal user charges for social services. The framework is applied to Malawi's education sector to formulate policy recommendations for solving problems of high student-teacher ratios and drop-out rates. Malawi's school user fees were increased in 1982 based on this…

Mateen Thobani's proposal to fund public education in Malawi through increased tuition fees applies inappropriate analytical techniques and fails to address a complex set of political, social, cultural, and economic issues. Policy formulation should stress a basis for dialog instead of pretending neoclassical economic analyses can provide answers.…

Steven Klees's criticism of Thobani's application of neoclassical economics to funding education by increasing tuition fees is based in part on misunderstanding or misrepresentation of arguments. The neoclassical framework can readily incorporate exogenous constraints; such constraints are political realities that must be reckoned with rather than…

Long-term centralization of Thailand's Adult Education Division resulted in a preponderance of urban-oriented curriculum in a country that was 80 percent rural. Beginning in 1976, the World Bank-Thai government's Nonformal Education Development Project facilitated decentralization by sharply increasing rural staff, offering new career…

A study of the Israeli "bagrut" (maturity examination) correlated number of absences from class with class grades ("magen") and with examination grades for 300 students. Although negative relationships were found in both cases, the subjectivity of internally based, subject-teacher assessment makes it a questionable part of the "bagrut"…

Examines the methodology of a comparative study by Tuppen and Deutrom of student performance in Third World countries and challenges its conclusions by providing a rationale for redefining retentivity as the proportion of the original enrollment retained rather than the proportion of the age group enrolled. (MM)

Comparative education can deepen understanding of our own education and society, be of assistance to policymakers and administrators, and form a most valuable part of teacher education. Like all applied fields, however, it is open to potential abuse by those who would use its results to support--or oppose--specific change programs. (BRR)

Examines the possibility of "privitizing" education (a government policy, such as a voucher or tax credit system, which combines public financing with private production of the service). Describes the Dutch system of publicly funded private education. Suggests that private organizations and local governments find themselves competing to provide…

Ghanian women have a long history as traders. In early 1978, 42 Central Accra schoolgirls and 42 girls engaged in selling were surveyed to determine the relationship of formal education to marketing skills. Formal education was not significantly helpful in promoting schoolgirls' trading knowledge nor in providing skills likely to land them jobs.…

During the 1950s-60s, a "people as clay" metaphor undergirded the most widely accepted English-language, predominantly North American writings on education for Third World development. Writings based on "people as growing plants" challenged the earlier writings from the late 1960s-late 1970s. Late 1970s developments have helped to blunt this…

Analyzes data from Karachi's four largest teacher training schools in order to answer questions about teacher shortages for rural areas in Pakistan, costs of teacher training, and employment status of newly trained teachers. Finds heavy state subsidy of teacher training and a large pool of unemployed urban teachers. (JHZ)