The article provides an overview of the global economic landscape in which the contemporary skills development discourse is located. Effective skills development oriented to market needs and to competitiveness in high-value global value chains will help developing economies to avoid the middle income trap. It outlines major issues and challenges…

This paper analyzes the parent decision-making processes underlying school selection in Nepal. The analysis is based on primary survey and focus group data collected from parent meetings in diverse local education markets in two districts of Nepal in 2011. It highlights three main arguments that are less frequently discussed in the context of…

United Nations development goals have consistently placed a high priority on the quality of education--and of learning. This has led to substantive increases in international development assistance to education, and also to broader attention, worldwide, to the importance of children's learning. Yet, such goals are mainly normative: they tend…

Several international declarations, signed over the last few decades, are helping to promote Education for All, by eliminating inequalities in both society and education systems. This article, a descriptive review of policy documents and reform initiatives, reports on ways the Government of Bangladesh has responded to these international…

Many countries are now creating world-class universities (WCUs) as essential parts of their higher education reform agendas, and as national goals. It is legitimate to ask whether every country that aspires to build a WCU can do so--especially developing countries. To answer this question, this paper provides a three-step framework. The first step…

This article addresses the role that education plays in conflict, with specific reference to the civil war in Sudan. It analyses the ideological basis of the Sudanese government (GoS) during the civil war, with special reference to the role of religion and ethnicity. It shows how the primary education system was based on the Islamist ideology of…

Training paraprofessionals such as teachers is one of many significant challenges facing Afghanistan's educational system. This case study focuses on the innovations offered in that regard by BRAC, a large NGO based in Bangladesh that brought its many years of development experience to Afghanistan in 2002 and established itself there as the…

Through a case study of Quebec's general and vocational colleges (cegeps), this article analyzes the role that institutions play in internationalizing the in-service training they provide to their teachers, and explains how partnerships with educational institutions in developing countries contribute to this process. Data from a questionnaire…

This paper critically discusses the educational policy trajectories of Singapore and Cambodia in an era of globalization. Drawing upon David Johnson's five metaphors to describe the historical and political forces that shape educational policy trajectories, the paper argues that Cambodia's current educational policy trajectory is characterized by…

This paper argues that practitioners and researchers in underdeveloped countries should organize themselves into teams to find and share research and experience-based information about factors that influence the quality of teaching. The teams would compile locally-developed knowledge about three topics: What teaching practices are most effective…

Since 2001 the government of Cambodia has striven to advance policy-led education reform based on a sector-wide approach. This paper critically reviews the status and progress of Cambodia's education reform from the perspective of the aid's effectiveness. The paper looks at the performance of the sector reform in the three priority areas…

At the time of writing, it is not possible to measure progress accurately, or even assess the baseline status of aid effectiveness in the education sector. Twelve targets en route to the five objectives of the Paris Declaration were set and agreed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); they were to be measured…

Inclusive education represents a new agenda for educational reform that spans a wide range of socio-political, cultural, ethical, personal and interpersonal dimensions. Working towards educational inclusion demands commitments, responsibilities and initiatives on the part of all parties to take into consideration the meanings and purpose of…

Over the past decade there has been increasing concern with aid effectiveness, and, more generally, development effectiveness. New ways of delivering aid have been developed, including sector-wide approaches and direct budget support. This paper reports on the progress that has been made through some of these new modalities of aid to education, as…

Education for All has focused international attention on the goals of universal primary education and improved education quality. However, national indicators related to these goals often mask significant differences among demographic and social groups, as well as among geographical regions within countries. This paper, based on a study…