There is a growing public concern in Kenya over the persistent gap between those schools that are consistently ranked at the top and those ranked at the bottom of the annual Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination league tables. This has raised the issue of inequality in educational opportunity. Our primary concern in this paper…

With the introduction of free primary education (FPE) in Kenya in 2003, it was expected that the burden on poor households in financing primary education would be reduced substantially. This in turn would increase enrolment in public schools and lead to universal primary education. However, studies have shown that a considerable proportion of…

This paper aims to improve the understanding of classroom-based gender differences that may lead to differential opportunities to learn provided to girls and boys in low and high performing primary schools in Kenya. The paper uses an opportunity to learn framework and tests the hypothesis that teaching practices and classroom interactions explain…

This paper focuses on the patterns of teaching styles and active teaching across subjects and between low and high performing schools in an attempt to examine what accounts for differences in performance between schools which are within the same locality. It uses data collected in 72 primary schools spread across six districts in Kenya. Video…

This study used a semi-structured interview tool with elementary students in an inclusive charter school in a western state in the United States. Students with and without disabilities were asked to comment on their participation in their classroom and their perceptions of the classroom climate in order to begin a dialogue with their teachers that…

This article is a response to Stephen Rowland's article, "Kindness," which appeared in "London Review of Education," November 2009. Much to my amazement, Stephen Rowland's article was the only one I found when I did a global database search on "kindness in education". I had thought that I would find reams of information in the databases on the…

This paper offers insights into learning experiences in inclusive classrooms, gained by giving voices to pupils about their perceptions of themselves and their opinions on classroom climate. A positive response pattern is identified concerning academic and social dimensions of schools, while the overall picture concerning the dimension of…