Education for All and Multigrade Teaching


Book Description

This book, based on original research, explores the challenges and opportunities in multigrade teaching in Colombia, England, Ghana, Malawi, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Peru, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Vietnam. It raises awareness among policymakers and practitioners in education of the realities of multigrade classes. Moreover, the book explores the implications for teachers, teacher educators, curriculum developers, and educational planners.




Multigrade Teaching in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

In Africa, with the expansion of coverage of primary education in recent decades, many of the remaining out-of-school children are in hard to reach areas, with low population density and poor transport. Providing access to education is challenging in such contexts, as the population in any village is often too small to support a conventional primary school. One of the answers is the use of multigrade teaching, where one teacher works with students of two or more grades. This paper examines the practice of multigrade teaching in three African countries, Uganda, Senegal, and The Gambia. Although these three cases had very different approaches to multigrade, their experiences suggest that multigrade teaching is a promising and cost-effective option, but that successful implementation requires sustained support from policymakers, adequate training of teachers, and careful explanation of the approach to parents and the communities.




Perspectives on Multigrade Teaching


Book Description

This book contains the results of research projects carried out in relation to multigrade teaching in Australia and South Africa. Research in multigrade contexts is not commonly reported and rarely in book form. The research results have implications for multigrade teachers, government education personnel, and university teacher educators. The book also contains chapters with practical advice for multigrade teachers, including examples of multigrade teaching used in an Australian seven-grade class (kindergarten to grade 6). Other chapters contain suggestions for practical strategies a multigrade teacher can use to reduce the workload involved in planning for multiple grades. Very little is published in the area of multigrade teaching, yet the number of multigrade schools worldwide is huge. Developed countries still have a significant proportion of multigrade schools (commonly one fifth to one third of all primary schools or classes). Despite decades of centralisation of schools and expansion of transport networks, the number of these schools remains high, mostly in rural areas. Developing countries established multigrade schools in rural areas in order to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goal of Universal Primary Education. Yet, specific training to teach a multigrade class remains virtually non-existent in initial teacher education programs worldwide. The value of this book is thus to report specific research carried out in multigrade contexts but also to provide practical help for multigrade teachers. This help is needed as the teachers strive to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal of a quality education, through helping their students develop the skills and behaviours required for 21st-century learning.




Lesson Study: Challenges In Mathematics Education


Book Description

Classroom Innovations through Lesson Study is an APEC EDNET (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Education Network) project that aims to improve the quality of education in the area of mathematics. This book includes challenges of lesson study implementation from members of the APEC economies.Lesson study is one of the best ways to improve the quality of teaching. It is a model approach for improvement of teacher education across the globe. This book focuses on mathematics education, teacher education, and curriculum implementation and reforms.




Learning and Teaching Around the World


Book Description

Learning and Teaching Around the World is a wide-ranging introduction to diverse experiences, practices and developments in global primary education. It explores different contexts for children’s learning, and methods and purposes of primary education, in settings across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australasia, and addresses wider issues such as the rise of refugee learners and large multi-grade classes. With an explicit focus on comparative and international studies and improving the knowledge, understanding and practice of effective pedagogies for children’s learning, this book reflects on key issues such as: Standards for learner-centred education Patterns of inclusion and exclusion Defining ‘teacher professionalism’ The impact of global education agendas Language policy for schooling and assessment Learning and Teaching Around the World is an essential text for those wishing to develop a critical understanding of the experiences of primary teachers and children around the world. Aimed at both undergraduate and postgraduate education studies students, the scope of this book will support all students in developing knowledge of primary education and of the diverse needs of learners in an era of global movement of children and families.




The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching


Book Description

Even under ideal conditions, teaching is tough work. Facing unrelenting pressure from administrators and parents and caught in a race against time to improve student outcomes, educators can easily become discouraged (or worse, burn out completely) without a robust coaching system in place to support them. For more than 20 years, perfecting such a system has been the paramount objective of best-selling author and coaching guru Jim Knight and his team of researchers at the Instructional Coaching Group (ICG). In The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching, Knight offers a blueprint for establishing, administering, and assessing an instructional coaching program laser-focused on every educator's ultimate goal: the academic success of students. Organized around ICG's seven "Success Factors" for great instructional coaching, this book offers * An in-depth guide to the Impact Cycle, ICG's research-based and field-tested model for coaching teachers through issues that matter most to them; * Detailed guidance on how to create a "playbook" of instructional strategies to share with collaborating teachers—and how to model those strategies under different conditions; * Practical advice on preparing for and engaging in substantive, reflective, and teacher-centered coaching conversations; * Best practices for gathering, analyzing, and responding to data for improved teaching and learning; and * Real-life anecdotes and testimonies from educators and coaches who have reaped the benefits of the Impact Cycle in a diverse array of schools. In addition, each chapter of the book contains a learning map to help orient you and a list of valuable additional resources to complement the text. Whether you're new to coaching or well versed in the practice, The Definitive Guide to Instructional Coaching will no doubt prove a cornerstone of your coaching library for years to come.




The Multi-grade Classroom


Book Description

This study is meant as an exploratory study to determine the extent to which multi-grade classrooms exist in school districts in Canada. Specifically, it obtains demographic information on multi-grade classrooms across Canada; describes the type (or classification) of grades and grade combinations in these schools; identifies the range of methodological procedures used and the instructional areas in which teachers need assistance; elicits the opinions of experienced teachers and principals on the psycho-social and cognitive development of students; and derives recommendations on curricula design, the organization of students for instructional purposes, the training of teachers for the multi-grade classroom, and needed research.




Improving the Quality of Education for All


Book Description

The "Improving the Quality of Education for All" (IQEA) school improvement project has, over the last ten years, reduced and evaluated a model of development that strengthens the school's ability to provide high quality education for all its pupils by building on existing good practice. The schools within the IQEA network have also provided the setting for a long-term investigation into the processes of school change and the enhancement of student achievement. This book provides many practical staff development activities and gives examples of specific changes which have taken place in IQEA schools, relating both to the progress of students and the professional development of their teachers. These training activities and examples demonstrate that improving the quality of education has many facets, not all of which can be measured and translated into league tables.




Effective Schools in Developing Countries (RLE Edu A)


Book Description

This volume brings together eight case studies which describe a variety of initiatives to create more effective schools for children of poverty, especially in the Third World. The initiatives reviewed published and unpublished documents and both qualitative and statistical studies were examined. Countries include Brazil, Burundi, Colombia, Ghana, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States. Each initiative was developed independently to address unique challenges and situations but taken as a group, the features of the approaches described in this volume can be viewed as a basis for considering the development of effective schools strategies in other contexts.




Ensuring All Children Learn


Book Description

Ensuring All Children Learn: Lessons from the South on What Works in Equity and Inclusion brings together a rich tapestry of cases from three southern continents focusing on issues germane to the access, learning, and retention in basic education in the context of Education for All (EFA). It is a narrative of both the disappointment that the implementation of EFA did not go as envisaged and of policy alternatives and hopes for a brighter future. The focus on Africa, Asia, and Latin America permits the reader to appreciate both the diversity of issues central to EFA and the physical spread of the challenges. The book confirms that whereas southern countries have adopted EFA as an overall policy goal, empirical evidence from the case studies uncovers critical lapses in policies and strategies. Four key issues inform the thematic analysis in the book: the overall experience in implementing EFA, the specific challenges faced, the lessons learned, and prospects for the future. The solutions to these challenges provide avenues for the attainment of basic education for all school-eligible children in tandem with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education.