This paper has two main objectives. First, it aims to analyse the connections between education and poverty established by the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), a central policy tool for the articulation of the Post Washington Consensus. Second, it intends to study how the PRSPs have been consolidated and expanded through different…

The concept of development has evolved from an exclusive focus on economic growth towards an interrelated, even integrated approach involving progress across a range of disciplines such as health, education, economics and agriculture. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are rooted in this evolved conception of development. A concerted global…

This article begins an investigation of the educational system of Morocco and its context of language diversity. It examines the Moroccan cultural environment and the ways the multilingualism and education of its people has been and continues to be influenced by geography, colonization periods, religion, and history. The effects of the Educational…

The objective of this paper is to analyse the role of education and poverty in the current global development agenda. It intends to analyse the emergence, evolution and consolidation of a global agenda, which attributes a key role to education in the fight against poverty. With this objective, the paper addresses four main issues: first, it…

Development is often understood as a linear process of change towards Western modernity, a vision that is challenged by this paper, arguing that development efforts should rather be connected to the local stakeholders' sense of their own development. Further, the paper contends that Complexity Theory is more effective than a linear theory of…

This paper considers issues concerning the quality of education in Eritrea using the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report's (GMR) framework for quality education. Drawing on 2 years school-based professional experience in the country, the multiple factors affecting quality in schooling are discussed. The applicability of the GMR…

The paper sets out a theoretical approach for understanding the quality of education in low income countries from a social justice perspective. The paper outlines and critiques the two dominant approaches that currently frame the debate about education quality, namely, the human capital and human rights approaches. Drawing principally on the ideas…

Using a global-local dialectic approach, this paper traces the rise of the basic education programme in the 1980s and 1990s in Botswana and its subsequent attenuation in the 2000s. Amongst the local forces that led to the rise of BEP were Botswana's political project of nation-building; the country's dire human resources situation in the decades…

The paper explores shifts in the nature, volume, trajectory and content of aid to education in the wake of post-9/11 Western preoccupations with the rise of Islamic radicalism. The paper develops a framework for understanding the dynamics of how educational aid appears to be becoming increasingly politicized in strategic conflict and post-conflict…

This article explores the nature of participatory practices in policy-making in basic education and their impact on the directions and outcomes of policy. Drawing on theoretical developments in policy studies, the focus is on non-formal education as a policy challenge for EFA. Data are presented from a recent field study undertaken in Uganda of…

This paper explores the making of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in South Africa, and asks how a policy that was intended to unite education and training, and build new forms of equality, failed to become hegemonic as the new state established itself. In so doing, it engages, and argues for, theoretical tools that help keep "the…

Since 1995 I have been engaged in consultancies and since 2001 in research dealing with the language of instruction policies in Africa. To what extent are the policies being implemented? What is the role of research and consultancy when it comes to language policy? What happens when researchers or consultants come up with recommendations which do…

The current dominant account of aid to education focuses on schooling and official development assistance and talks in terms of policy work, donor harmonisation and, increasingly, budgetary support. However, this approach is limited in a number of ways. The return of international policy interest in vocational education provides an opportunity to…

In the early 1990s, large numbers of children in India remained out of school. International commitments to achieve education for all (EFA) globally meant that India was an important case for donors. India was pressed to accept aid for primary education, and agreed with some reluctance. Although subsequent donor involvement was substantial and…

Burkina Faso is among the largest recipients of development aid in West Africa. The new aid terminology emphasizes partnership and a sectoral approach. Yet, recent research suggests more continuity than change in the aid relationship. Projects persist. Funding and technical assistance agencies cooperate more but adhere to their interests,…