Community Schools in Africa


Book Description

This book explores questions related to the recent establishment in Africa of community schools similar to those supported by Save the Children. The book addresses the serious doubts about realizing the Education for All and Millennium Development Goals. It draws on Save the Children’s experience with community-based schooling in four countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, and Uganda.




School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa


Book Description

School Construction Strategies for Universal Primary Education in Africa' examines the scope of the infrastructure challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and the constraints to scaling up at an affordable cost. It assesses the experiences of African countries with school planning, school facility designs, and construction techniques, procurement and implementation arrangements over the past thirty years. It reviews the roles of the various actors in the implementation process: central and deconcentrated administrations, local governments, agencies, social funds, NGOs, and local communities. Drawing upon extensive analysis of data from over 200 250 projects sponsored by the World Bank and other donor agencies, the book draws lessons on promising approaches to enable African countries to scale up the facilities required to achieve the EFA goals and MDGs of complete quality primary education for all children at the lowest marginal cost.




Abolishing School Fees in Africa


Book Description

Progress in literacy and learning, especially through universal primary education, has done more to advance human conditions than perhaps any other policy. Our generation has the possibility of becoming the first generation ever to offer all children access to good quality basic education. But it will only happen if we have the political commitment -- at the country as well as at the international level -- to give priority to achieve this first in human history. And it will only happen if also those who cannot afford to pay school fees can benefit from a complete cycle of good quality primary education. Investment in good quality fee-free primary education should be a cornerstone in any government's poverty reduction strategy.




Learning Spaces in Africa


Book Description

With a key UN Sustainable Development Goal for 2030 being to make basic education available to all the world’s children, Learning Spaces in Africa explores the architectural, socio-political and economic policy factors that have contributed to school design, the main spaces for education and learning in Africa. It traces the development of school building design, focusing on Western and Southern Africa, from its emergence in the 19th century to the present day. Uduku’s analysis draws attention to the past historic links of schools to development processes, from their early 19th century missionary origins to their re-emergence as development hubs in the 21st century. Learning Spaces in Africa uses this research as a basis to suggest fundamental changes to basic education, which respond to new technological advances, and constituencies in learning. Illustrated case studies describe the use of tablets in refugee community schools, "hole-in-the wall" learning and shared school-community learning spaces. This book will be beneficial for students, academics and those interested in the history of educational architecture and its effect on social development, particularly in Africa and with relevance to countries elsewhere in the emerging world.




Leapfrogging Inequality


Book Description

Exemplary stories of innovation from around the world In an age of rising inequality, getting a good education increasingly separates the haves from the have nots. In countries like the United States, getting a good education is one of the most promising routes to upper-middle-class status, even more so than family wealth. Experts predict that by 2030, 825 million children will reach adulthood without basic secondary-level skills, and it will take a century for the most marginalized youth to achieve the educational levels that the wealthiest enjoy today. But these figures do not even account for the range of skills and competencies needed to thrive today in work, citizenship, and life. In a world where the ability to manipulate knowledge and information, think critically, and collaboratively solve problems are essential to thrive, access to a quality education is crucial for all young people. In Leapfrogging Inequality, researchers chart a new path for global education by examining the possibility of leapfrogging—harnessing innovation to rapidly accelerate educational progress—to ensure that all young people develop the skills they need for a fast-changing world. Analyzing a catalog of nearly 3,000 global education innovations, the largest such collection to date, researchers explore the potential of current practices to enable such a leap. As part of this analysis, the book presents an evidence-based framework for getting ahead in education, which it grounds in the here-and-now by narrating exemplary stories of innovation from around the world. Together, these stories and resources will inspire educators, investors, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers alike to rally around a new vision of educational progress—one that ensures we do not leave yet another generation of young people behind.




Professional Learning Communities in South African Schools and Teacher Education Programmes


Book Description

This book draws together research on professional learning communities in schools and teacher education in diverse contexts in South Africa. Each chapter captures the rich and complex nature of professional learning communities, the challenges in developing and maintaining them, and the extent to which they promote successful learning for teachers and changes in teaching practices. The book shows that professional learning communities can promote continuous learning in response to local school and classroom realities and work against 'quick-fix', fragmented workshops for teachers, where learning tends to dissipate. This book should be of interest to teachers, school-leaders, teacher-educators, policymakers and researchers.




Emerging Voices


Book Description

This examination graphically illustrates the conditions that make dreams of a better life for all virtually unrealizable in rural areas of South Africa. Through the voices of rural people themselves, this study tells not only what the problems surrounding education are but also what can and should be done when the South African government launches its offensive against poverty in rural areas. Rigorous and qualitative, the text is an overview of the need of great numbers of people for the opportunities and capabilities that education can provide for their futures. It also shows the existing situation of many impoverished populations worldwide and illustrates that poverty and inequality continue where such issues are not addressed.




Community Partnership Schools


Book Description

This book examines community partnership schools in the USA. Authored by academics and practitioners, it provides an overview of how community schools work in practice, provides a historical context of the model, and demonstrates the importance of the university-community connection in their effective running. Above all, the book showcases how community partnership schools are educational equity solutions that provide support services to underserved students, families, and communities. It will appeal to students and scholars of public administration, public policy, public health, and education, as well as practitioners.




School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




Community Participation with Schools in Developing Countries


Book Description

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2016-2030) set by the United Nations in 2015 restated the importance of universal primary education for all, and specifically discuss quality, equity, and inclusion in basic education. To achieve this, the role of community has been emphasized and participation has become a "buzzword" in international development over the past several decades. Despite the growing attention to community participation in school management, previous literature has shown mixed results in terms of its actual practice and its impacts on quality, equity, and inclusion in education. This book deepens the contextual understanding of community in developing countries and its involvement in schools in general, and its impact on quality, equity, and inclusion of school education in particular. By presenting various case studies in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and a post-conflict state in Europe, the book analyses commonalities and differences in the ways communities are involved and cast their impacts and challenges. The book contributes knowledge on the ways in which community involvement could work in developing countries, the detailed processes and factors that make community participation work in different dimensions, and remaining challenges that scholars and practitioners still need to be concerned and mindful in the field. This book will appeal to both researchers and practitioners who are concerned about the community participation approach for the SDGs.