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The main objectives that guided the research and provided a framework for investigating the role of the Escape Room as a learning strategy in the specific context of primary education were as follows: (i) To investigate how the Escape Room can be implemented as a learning strategy in the 1st Cycle of Basic Education; (ii) To analyze children's perceptions of the use of the Escape Room as an educational tool; (iii) To evaluate the effects of the Escape Room on the motivation, engagement, and academic performance of a group of children in the 1st Cycle of Basic Education; and (iv) To identify challenges and opportunities associated with integrating the Escape Room into the school context of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education. 2. According to several authors (Elumir & Whitney, 2016; Nicholson, 2018; Thomas et al., 2018), the typical structure of an Escape Room involves the following elements: * Narrative: The Escape Room is planned within a specific setting, featuring an engaging narrative that serves as the foundation for the experience. The growing interest in integrating games into the educational environment has been driven by the understanding that playfulness can be a valuable and effective tool for promoting learning, as games provide an immersive learning environment in which children actively engage in challenging and meaningful activities (Cleophas & Bedin, 2023; Costa et al., 2020; Čujdíková & Vankúš, 2023; Potaris & Mastoras, 2022; GarciaTudela et al., 2019; Moura, 2022; Nicholson, 2018; Pina et al., 2022; Salvador-Gômez et al., 2022; Taraldsen et al., 2020, among others). Fotaris and Mastoras (2022) proposed a design model for educational Escape Rooms in higher education, focusing on promoting active and collaborative learning, and Nicholson (2018) presented a case study on the implementation of an Escape Room in a mathematics class, highlighting the increase in motivation and interest of the children.

Sub-Saharan African countries are increasingly recognizing the contribution of post basic education to economic growth and social development. However, policy makers in many poor countries struggle to balance expansion and upgrading of post-basic education reform against competing development priorities. They must consider how and sometimes whether, to fund post-basic education in the face of demographic growth, limited public resources, and political and social imperatives. In its new poverty reduction and growth strategy, the Madagascar Action Plan (MAP), the Government of Madagascar made the transformation of its education system one of the key pillars of its development agenda. An important decision was the reform of basic education, covering primary and junior secondary education, including extension of the basic education cycle to 10 years. The Government's new Education for All (EFA) plan provides the policy framework and operational strategies for basic education, covering changes to curricula and learning materials, teaching methods and student assessment. The EFA plan was endorsed by donors and the reform of basic education launched in 2008.The main purpose of this report is to provide analytical inputs for the development of post-basic education reforms. Specifically, the report identifies and prioritizes: (i) the need for change in the structure, content and delivery of Madagascar's post-basic education and training system, and (ii) the key reforms in financing, governance and sub-sector management required to support changes to the structure, content and delivery of the post-basic system.

The conference brought together 44 African ministers of finance and of education from 28 African countries for a structured dialogue on sustaining Africa's economic and educational progress in the current context of a global economic slowdown. African countries have achieved laudable progress during the last decade towards the Education for All (EFA) goals for 2015 that were agreed in Dakar in 2000, particularly with regard to Universal Primary Education (UPE). This progress reflects the combined impact of several factors, notably courageous education reforms, substantially increased public financing of education made possible largely by sustained economic growth and increased political priority for education-and greater inflows of external aid for education. The momentum may be jeopardized, however, by the current worldwide economic downturn. Tightening domestic budgets and external aid could increase the difficulty of sustaining policy reform and strategic investments, thereby putting at risk the hard won gains of the last ten years. They could also undermine Africa's efforts to develop post basic education and training and delay achievement of key goals of the African Union's Second Decade for Education in Africa. The result would be to frustrate the aspirations of the increasing numbers of African youth who seek to go beyond primary education and to deny their prospective employers the skilled workforce that could help boost business competitiveness and economic growth. The emerging global economic circumstances provided a key rationale for the Conference. Its purpose was to stimulate dialogue among senior policy makers on policy options to achieve a mutually reinforcing relation between education and the economy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to apply and analyze the impact of the semantic feature analysis (SFA) strategy on vocabulary development and comprehension of texts and theoretical concepts in Portuguese school-age students with and without special educational needs (SEN) attending inclusive schools. Method: The research design was quasi-experimental. The SFA was administered in ten sessions of approximately 60 min each. The sample was a convenience sample and consisted of selecting three classes in each school: (i) in the first cycle of basic education, 65 students were divided into a control group, an experimental group and a structured teaching group; (ii) in the second cycle of basic education, 55 students were divided into an experimental group, an online virtual school and a control group. Results: (1) The SFA strategy is motivating, appealing, inexpensive, flexible and easy to implement; (2) learning the SFA strategy is easy and can be successfully taught in any classroom; (3) the performance of the students assigned to the experimental groups was significantly higher in both cycles compared to all the other groups; (4) the effect sizes were 0.87 in the first cycle and 0.88 in the second cycle. Conclusion: The SFA strategy effectively promotes the development of vocabulary, concept knowledge and text comprehension in school-age children, being more effective than regular teaching.

This report, produced with the help of Madagascar’s national education team in 2006-07, is designed to contribute to ongoing education reform discussions. It analyzes the constraints to system expansion and presents possible next steps for an appropriate course of action. This report aims to encourage discussion among policymakers, stakeholders and donors, and does not promote one approach over another. To promote a more competitive economy in Madagascar in the 21st century, the government expects to increase the average years of schooling from the current 4.5 years to about 9-10 years by 2015 for the relative age groups. This report discusses the ongoing reform and its impact and provides suggestions for implementation. This report is intended to be used as a discussion instrument and to be disseminated among Madagascar’s stakeholders in education. We hope this report will contribute to improved implementation of the secondary education reform in Madagascar.This study was prepared as part of the Secondary Education and Training in Africa (SEIA) initiative which aims to assist countries to develop sustainable strategies for expansion and quality improvements in secondary education and training.

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which receptive and productive skills are available in the Emar English Series for the Second Cycle of Basic Education: Student's 'book and workbook. To fulfill the objective of the study, the researcher designed an evaluation checklist for productive (speaking and writing) and receptive (reading and listening) skills to identify the extent to which these skills are available in 7th, 8th, and 9th grade student's books and workbooks. The study's sample included all of the pages of a English student's book and workbook for the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. As a result, the six books are evaluated in terms of productive and receptive skills. The study's findings revealed that the majority of instructional and evaluative activities in the field of basic English language skills for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade student's books and workbooks are focused on reading skills, while speaking, writing, and listening skills were all found to be below average. Consequently, there is no logical balance in the distribution of basic skills in the student's book and workbook for the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades. According to the results of the receptive and productive skills, these books focused on receptive skills rather than productive skills. Productive skills are available for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades as follows: 19.29%, 15.65%, 16.30%, whereas receptive skills are available for the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades as follows: 81.56%, 84.34%, and 83.68%.

All countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face the prospect of a substantial increase in the number of primary school completers in the coming years. Although initial conditions vary widely from country to country, this increase will inevitably intensify pressure on the education system, particularly at the secondary and tertiary levels. African countries may thus find it timely to align their education policies and strategies to the emerging challenges. A key goal is to ensure that the education system continues to develop in an efficient, equitable, and fiscally sustainable manner even as it expands to accommodate the rising numbers seeking a place in secondary and tertiary education. The rest of this report is organized as follows. Chapter two elaborates the policy context for education development in SSA. Chapter three explains the methodology and data sources. Chapter four examines the challenges and constraints posed by the sheer volume of increases in enrollments in post-primary education with which most education systems in SSA must grapple in the coming years. Taking these constraints into account, the report evaluates the scope for policy development from three perspectives in the subsequent chapters: the coverage of education systems (chapter five), the quality and cost of service delivery (chapter six), and the division of financing by public and private sources (chapter seven). The fiscal implications of plausible policy packages that SSA countries might consider are assessed in chapter eight. Chapter nine seems up the general conclusions of the report.

As in most countries worldwide, Sub-Saharan African countries are striving to build their human capital so they can compete for jobs and investments in an increasingly globalized world. In this region, which includes the largest number of countries that have not yet attained universal primary schooling, the ambitions and aspirations of Sub-Saharan African countries and their youth far exceed this basic goal. Over the past 20 years, educational levels have risen sharply across Sub-Saharan Africa. Already hard at work to provide places in primary schools for all children, most countries of the region are also rapidly expanding access to secondary and tertiary levels of education. Alongside this quantitative push is a growing awareness of the need to make sure that students are learning and acquiring the skills needed for life and work. Achieving education of acceptable quality is perhaps an even greater challenge than providing enough school places for all. Thus, Sub-Saharan African countries are simultaneously confronting many difficult challenges in the education sector, and much is at stake. This book gives those concerned with education in Sub-Saharan Africa an analysis of the sector from a cross-country perspective, aimed at drawing lessons that individual country studies alone cannot provide. A comparative perspective is useful not only to show the range of possibilities in key education policy variables but also to learn from the best performers in the region. (Although the report covers 47 Sub- Saharan African countries whenever possible, some parts of the analysis center on the region's low-income countries, in particular, a sample of 33 low-income countries). Although countries ultimately must make their own policy choices and decide what works best in their particular circumstances, Sub-Saharan African countries can benefit from learning about the experiences of other countries that are faced with, or have gone through, similar development paths. Given the large number of countries included in the analysis, the book finds that Sub-Saharan African countries have more choices and more room for maneuver than will appear if attention were focused on only one or a few country experiences. Countries can make better choices when understanding the breadth of policy choices available to them. They are well advised, however, to evaluate the applicability of policy options to their contexts and to pilot and evaluate the results for performance and subsequent improvement.

Resumo Este artigo apresenta resultados de uma investigação sobre o raciocínio matemático, mais especificamente sobre as ações de professores que o potencializam. O objetivo foi identificar, categorizar e discutir as ações efetuadas por duas professoras durante a discussão de tarefas exploratórias realizadas em duas turmas do 1° Ciclo de Ensino Básico1, uma do 1° ano e outra do 3° ano, de uma escola pública da periferia de Lisboa. Os dados foram coletados por meio de observação participante suportada por gravação em áudio e vídeo das aulas. Após a transcrição, os dados foram analisados em quatro categorias de ações de professores, a saber: convidar; guiar/apoiar; informar/sugerir e desafiar. Por meio da análise, ressaltamos que as ações efetuadas pelas professoras durante a discussão das tarefas favoreceram os processos de conjecturar, comparar, identificar padrões e justificar dos alunos. Os resultados alcançados por este estudo trazem evidências da relevância que as ações dos professores têm para o desenvolvimento do raciocínio matemático desde os primeiros anos. Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation into mathematical reasoning, specifically about the actions of teachers to enhance it. The objective was to identify, categorize, and discuss the actions performed by two teachers during the discussion of exploratory tasks solved in two classes of the 1st Cycle of Basic Education, a 1st grade and a 3rd grade class of a public school near Lisbon. Data were collected through participant observation supported by audio and video recording of the classes. After transcription, data were analyzed in four categories of teacher actions: invite; guide/support; inform/suggest, and challenge. Data analysis concerns that the actions carried out by the teachers in whole-class discussions favored the student's processes of conjecture formulation, comparison, identification of patterns, and justification. The results achieved by this study provide evidence to the relevance of the teachers' actions for the development of mathematical reasoning since the early years.

The report opens with a brief description of the conceptual framework that guided the analysis as well as the data used. The next chapter presents the analysis of changes in household behavior and educational outcomes related to the implementation of the reforms, at both the primary and secondary levels. The descriptive nature of this analysis does not allow for inferences regarding the effects of the reforms on enrollment and demand for education. The following chapter presents the results of an econometric impact analysis of the reforms to quantify the magnitude of the effects on enrollment. In considering priorities for the future, the Government is paying increasing attention to the impact of the investments in education on growth, jobs, and poverty reduction, as measured by increased earnings from employment, and particularly by improving opportunities for the labor force to move to higher productivity activities and livelihoods. The next chapter presents the results on the changing structure of employment in Mozambique between 2003 and 2008, the impacts of education on employment opportunities, and the implications of these changes for education policy. The final chapter integrates the education and labor force analyses and provides strategic recommendations as Mozambique continues to improve educational outcomes, particularly for those population groups that have had the most difficulty entering and remaining in school.