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How have the school effectiveness and school improvement movements arrived where they are today? Over the past three decades there has been a great deal of development, from the 1960s when debates arose regarding equality of opportunity, to the 1980s when market concepts came into play. This book contrasts current thinking on educational standards with prevailing thought from prior decades, and tackles difficult questions of quality and educational outcomes. Anyone wishing to improve their understanding of school effectiveness will find this book interesting and highly informative.

During, at least, the last two decades English as a lingua franca has been in ascendance in international forums, business and trade. This association of English language fluency with maximizing economic returns has raised the language’s investment potential for both individuals and governments throughout the world. For individuals, the benefits of English language proficiency are seen to lie in the scope that it provides them to improve their employability within local, national and international labour markets and, related to this, the potential that it offers for increasing levels of individual salary income. Governments, especially in non-English-speaking developing countries such as

The question of why the issue of language features increasingly at the centre of debates about education for social and economic development at the beginning of the 21st Century is compelling. Within a rapidly changing world, language, literacy and communication are seen as constituting key elements in the process of lifelong learning. Contemporary technological development and cultural shifts intersect in complex ways with the legacy of colonialism and underdevelopment within developing countries with a colonial history. This book addresses some of these issues related to language and development. Part I explores the relationship between colonial and postcolonial social policies on the unresolved language problems that prevail in many developing countries. Part II comprises case studies of Mali, Pakistan and South Africa. Part III draws on key motifs identified in the previous two sections, and discusses linguistic diversity as an important variable of cultural capital within the interactive global cultural economy. The book's focus on language, education and development makes it essential reading in Development Studies, International and Comparative Education, Sociology and Educational Policy Studies. Its focus on language issues within the global cultural economy would make it an important text in Applied Linguistic Studies.

This paper draws on ethnographic case-study research conducted amongst a group of first and second generation immigrant children in six inner-city schools in London. It focuses on language attitudes and language choice in relation to cultural maintenance, on the one hand, and career aspirations on the other. It seeks to provide insight into some of the experiences and dilemmatic choices encountered and negotiations engaged in by transmigratory groups, how they define cultural capital, and the processes through which new meanings are shaped as part of the process of defining a space within the host society. Underlying this discussion is the assumption that alternative cultural spaces in which multiple identities and possibilities can be articulated already exist in the rich texture of everyday life amongst transmigratory groups. The argument that whilst the acquisition of 'world languages' is a key variable in accumulating cultural capital, the maintenance of linguistic diversity retains potent symbolic power in sustaining cohesive identities is a recurring theme.

Education, especially higher education, is considered vital for maintaining national and individual competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. Following the introduction of its \"Free Education Policy\" as early as 1947, Sri Lanka is now the best performer in basic education in the South Asian region, with a remarkable record in terms of high literacy rates and the achievement of universal primary education. However, access to tertiary education is a bottleneck, due to an acute shortage of university places. In an attempt to address this problem, the government of Sri Lanka has invested heavily in information and communications technologies (ICTs) for distance education. Although this has resulted in some improvement, the authors of this article identify several barriers which are still impeding successful participation for the majority of Sri Lankans wanting to study at tertiary level. These impediments include the lack of infrastructure/resources, low English language proficiency, weak digital literacy, poor quality of materials and insufficient provision of student support. In the hope that future implementations of ICT-enabled education programmes can avoid repeating the mistakes identified by their research in this Sri Lankan case, the authors conclude their paper with a list of suggested policy options. L'éducation, en particulier l'enseignement supérieur, est décisive pour maintenir la compétitivité individuelle et nationale dans le contexte de l'économie mondiale du savoir. Grâce à la mise en place dès 1947 de sa « politique d'éducation libre », le Sri Lanka est aujourd'hui le meilleur élève en Asie du Sud pour l'éducation de base, avec des résultats remarquables quant au taux d'alphabétisme et à la réalisation de l'enseignement primaire universel. L'accès à l'enseignement supérieur connaît néanmoins un engorgement dû à un manque aigu de places universitaires. Pour tenter de résoudre ce problème, le Gouvernement du Sri Lanka investit massivement dans les technologies d'information et de communication (TIC) pour l'enseignement à distance. Si cet effort a apporté quelques améliorations, les auteurs de l'article identifient plusieurs obstacles qui entravent encore une participation concluante pour la majorité des Sri-Lankais désireux de suivre des études supérieures. Ces obstacles consistent en déficits dans plusieurs domaines : infrastructures et ressources, maîtrise de l'anglais, culture numérique, matériels et soutien aux étudiants. Les auteurs concluent leur article en proposant une liste d'options stratégiques, avec l'espoir que les applications futures des programmes éducatifs utilisant les TIC éviteront de répéter les erreurs identifiées lors de leur recherche sur ce cas du Sri Lanka.

Die Qualität der Wissensbestände der Bevölkerung eines Landes ist die Basis der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung. Diese Studie beschäftigt sich mit einigen Themen in Bezug auf die Entwicklung von Humanressourcen, die mit der Einführung des Prinzips der Vielsprachigkeit im südafrikanischen Bildungssystem einher gehen. Am Anfang steht die Diskussion des Verhältnisses zwischen Wissen, Sprache, Humanressourcen und der sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung innerhalb der globalen kulturellen Ökonomie. Es folgt eine Betrachtung der Situation in Südafrika und im Besonderen der Konsequenzen, die sich aus der kolonialen und neokolonialen Vergangenheit des Landes für die Bestrebungen ergeben, die neue Politik durchzusetzen. Mit Bezug auf die Debatte, die in den letzten drei Jahrzehnten in Großbritannien Über die sprachliche Vielfalt in der Bildung geführt wurde, wird die erste Phase eines bestehenden Lehrerfortbildungsprogramms bewertet, das vom Projekt für alternative Bildung in Südafrika (PRAESA) an der Universität von Kapstadt entwickelt wurde. Die Autorinnen beschreiben kurzfristige wie langfristige Schlüsselthemen, welche mit der Wissensvermittlung in der Bildung in vielsprachigen Gesellschaften verbunden sind. Ein besonderes Augenmerk liegt auf dem Gebrauch afrikanischer Sprachen als Medien für Lehren und Lernen. (DIPF/Orig.). The quality of a country's human-resource base can be said to determine its level of success in social and economic development. This study focuses on some of the major human-resource development issues that surround the implementation of South Africa's policy of multilingualism in education. It begins by discussing the relationship between knowledge, language, and human-resource, social and economic development within the global cultural economy. It then considers the situation in South Africa and, in particular, the implications of that country's colonial and neo-colonial past for attempts to implement the new policy. Drawing on the linguistic-diversity-in-education debate in the United Kingdom of the past three decades, it assesses the first phase of an in-service teacher-education programme that was carried out at the Project for Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) based at the University of Cape Town. The authors identify key short- and long-term issues related to knowledge exchange in education in multilingual societies, especially concerning the use of African languages as mediums for teaching and learning. (DIPF/Orig.).