Transforming Education Outcomes in Africa : Learning from Togo
Good education changes lives. It is therefore unsurprising that improved schooling plays a central part in most development strategies. At the same time, the expansion of school attainment alone is not sufficient to guarantee improved welfare. This book focuses on one country in West Africa, Togo, to explore what a country that has successfully increased enrollment rates can do to enhance learning outcomes. The authors explore different avenues for improvement, including enhancing the efficiency with which resources are used; increasing the qualifications of teachers; and through greater community involvement in school management. There is scope for improvement along all these dimensions, yet changes at the margin are insufficient to bring about the transformation needed to bring about acceptable levels of learning.
School Knowledge in Comparative and Historical Perspective : Changing Curricula in Primary and Secondary Education
In this special edited volume, scholars with diverse backgrounds and conceptual frameworks explore how economic, political, social and ideological forces impact on school curricula over time and place. In providing regional and global perspectives on curricular policies, practices and reforms, the authors move beyond the conventional notion that school contents reflect principally national priorities and subject-based interests. Some authors emphasize a convergence to standardized global curricular structures and discourses.
Early geometrical thinking in the environment of patterns, mosaics and isometries
This book discusses the learning and teaching of geometry, with a special focus on kindergarten and primary education. It examines important new trends and developments in research and practice, and emphasizes theoretical, empirical and developmental issues. Further, it discusses various topics, including curriculum studies and implementation, spatial abilities and geometric reasoning, as well as the psychological roots of geometrical thinking and teacher preparation in geometry education. It considers these issues from historical, epistemological, cognitive semiotic and educational points of view in the context of students' difficulties and the design of teaching and curricula.


