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.

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.

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.

Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Analysis takes stock of education in Sub-Saharan Africa by drawing on the collective knowledge gained through the preparation of Country Status Reports for more than 30 countries.

Sarah Lange examines the effectiveness of cascade training, which constitutes a cost-effective training model in teacher training. In development cooperation countries, teaching quality is expected to improve with teacher professional development; for this purpose, she explores the effectiveness of training multipliers in schools in Cameroon. This research question is analysed with a design, which encompasses a questionnaire survey provided to teachers, students and principals as well as a teacher video survey and a student achievement test. The empirical results show the effects of cascade training on the learner-oriented teaching practice, if the trained teachers are supported in their role as change agents. Among the conditions for the conceptual quality and the implementation of cascade training, the continuity of school-based professional development is particularly emphasized in light of the results.

Data for recent years show a turnaround in education: the gross enrollment rate in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 78 percent in 1998 99 to 84 percent in 2000 01 and to 91 percent in 2002 03, reflecting broad-based growth in access not seen since the 1970s. However, key challenges remain, including (a) enrolling the last 10 15 percent of out-ofschool children, including a growing number of HIV/AIDS orphans (one of every 10 African children by 2010); (b) improving learning outcomes; and (c) reducing dropout. Maintaining progress will require continuing the reforms to (a) implement cost-effect.

This book addresses a problem crucial to the implementation of education for all. In sparsely populated or remote areas classes where a single teacher is responsible for several grades can make a big contribution and countries in Europe and North America were able to achieve universal primary education largely through multigrade schools. Many countries in Latin America and Asia are achieving success with this approach, which is increasing enrolment, improving performance and reducing absenteeism in rural areas. In India, two thirds of primary schools are multigrade. However, while multigrade classes could be a solution for educating rural people in many African countries, governments tend to focus on improving conventional schools, often leaving the development of multigrade schools to local initiative. For this reason, multigrade schools in rural Africa tend to show poor results, which in turn give them a negative image.