The purpose of this article is to share information about the Costa Rican Marine Education Programme in relation to the quality criteria for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Schools. We found that the application of these criteria is feasible, not only to the organisation and management of schools that are looking to become ESD Schools,…

This paper outlines the contribution made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) towards enhancing the integration of sustainable development concerns in Africa through its initiative, the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in Africa (MESA) Universities Partnership, during the United Nations Decade of Education for…

This essay considers the non-instrumental vision of the learning society through the analysis of its conceptual logic and meaning based on A. J. Cropley's approach. It outlines a view of the learning society whereby learning is an end in itself rather than a means of achieving other economic or civic purposes, as currently described in relevant…

The end of the Cold War ushered in a paradigmatic shift in international development discourse whereby a human rights-based approach to development was generated. This shift has stimulated the pegging of international development policy to the objectives of the human rights regime. However, in attempting to unify development and human rights…

What insights and generalisations can be drawn from looking across the work of multiple governmental and non-governmental organisations aimed at supporting basic education in low and medium income countries? To address this question, this study analysed findings of nine evaluation meta-studies completed by international assistance organisations,…

Secondary schools tend to sponsor a large number of extra-curricular activities (ECA) yet little is known about their contribution to students' educational outcomes. This meta-analysis aims to determine what it is about ECA participation that supports positive educational outcomes. Furthermore, this study challenges the theoretical assumptions…

This paper analyses the mechanisms of stratification and inequalities in educational achievements. The main objective is to determine how stratification leads to unequal educational outcomes and how inequalities are channelled through student characteristics, school characteristics and peer effects. This analysis is undertaken in five countries…

This article explores distinctive features of a 5-year international education development project set in rural northern Peru (PROMEB, the "Proyecto de Mejoramiento de la Educacion Basica"). Grounded within a partnership between teacher educators from Peru, Mexico and Canada, and rural Peruvian teachers, students and their communities, we offer…

In 2003, a curriculum reform of education was initiated in mainland China to improve the quality of senior secondary education. The major purpose of this reform was to move from a teacher-centred to a student-centred approach in teaching. In order to find out how teachers coped with the challenges of the reform and how their work was affected, an…

This study examines the relationship between educators' locus of control and job stress using samples from the US and Zimbabwe. Multiple regression analyses are used to identify significant relationships in the US sample between teachers' external locus of control and the severity of the job stress that they experience, coupled with the perceived…

Cyprus is a Mediterranean island divided into two political sections. For political agreement to be possible between the North (Turkish) and South (Greek), Cyprus should give full consideration to citizenship education at schools with the aim of transmitting shared values and helping students become EU citizens. In this research, two citizenship…

This paper takes a close look at India's literacy rate by exploring whether the officially "literate" can read and at what level. In a large sample, aged 7+, drawn from four Hindi-speaking states, two methods were used to measure literacy. One was the standard Census Method (CM) which relies on self-reporting and the other was a Reading Method…

Kenya has 41 Deaf schools that serve children from Class 1 through secondary school. These schools are all characterised by the fact that they have very few teachers who are fluent in Kenyan sign language. In order to meet the needs of schools and to provide employment opportunities for Deaf Kenyan adults, a small non-governmental organisation…

A targeted educational voucher scheme (TEVS) is often proposed for the poor in developing countries. Essentially, TEVS involves issuing vouchers to poor households, thus enabling them to pay tuition and fees for their children's schooling at participating non-public schools. However, little is known about TEVS' design in developing countries. This…

Private for-profit higher education has been rapidly expanding in developing countries worldwide since the early 1990s. This global trend has been particularly evident in Ethiopia, where only three public universities existed until 1996. By 2005, about 60 private for-profit higher education institutions had been founded in Ethiopia. This has led…