Policy makers recognize that developing capacity for knowledge and technology driven growth is necessary for Swaziland to integrate into the global economy and to be competitive; in particular because Swaziland is not rich in exploitable natural resources. The Education Training and Skills Development Sector (ETSDS), the educational sector of Swaziland s long-term development and reform program, covers all levels of education, from early childhood to post-secondary education. This paper evaluates the adequacy of the ETSDS in light of the enhanced educational goal for the country. Acknowledging that financing reforms will be a challenge, this paper makes recommendations to enhance the program s effectiveness, such as expanding access, strengthening delivery modes, and minimizing financial barriers to education and training.

Booth analyzes the results of a longitudinal study tracking the academic progress of 80 students in Swaziland who must daily cross boundaries between their traditional African families and a Westernized educational system. Particular attention has been paid to the impact of the absence of the father (due to migrant labor) on children's scholastic achievement. The connection between the educational level of mothers and the schooling of daughters is also discussed. Booth teaches educational psychology at Bowling Green State University. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

It is a fundamental right for all children to be given access to quality education to ensure they reach their full potential as individuals; a right which is reflected in international law in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and supported by the Education for All Agenda (1990) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities and Optional Protocol (2006). Nation states across Africa have signed up to these protocols and remain committed to ensuring education for all children. The progress globally however in the past 25 years, including in Africa, has been slow (UNESCO, 2015). Questions remain on why this is so and what can be done about it. This book brings together researchers, education policy makers and academics from the African community. What is unique about this text is that it includes local insights narrated and critiqued by local professionals. This book presents a wide range of African countries across the continent, to provide a critical overview of the key issues affecting developments. It questions the origins of ideas and definitions around inclusive education and the impact it has made on policy and ultimately practice, within local socio-cultural and economic communities, both urban and rural. It highlights positive developments as well as challenges and provides a deep understanding of why the process of implementing inclusive education is so complex in the African continent. It provides an understanding of what is needed to develop a more sustainable model of inclusive education across the continent and within specific countries.

At the time of independence from Britain in 1968, education in Swaziland was characterized by poor quality, uneven distribution of schools, high dropout and repeater rates, serious teacher shortages, and inappropriate and highly academic curricula. This paper describes the status of present-day education in Swaziland in terms of the effect of government policies on the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. Because current trends in education are the cumulative result of policies followed since independence, the historical development of educational policy is traced in quinquennials that correspond to each of the four post-independence five-year National Development Plans. The policies of the first three five-year periods are followed by an appraisal of the achievements and failures of the period with regard to policy objectives and policy procedures. The final chapter on the Fourth Plan (1984-88) lists priority areas for continued improvement : a) improved teacher training; b) curriculum development; c) support to the sector from the Ministry of Education; and d) more systematic educational planning, monitoring and evaluation.

While South Africa has made significant improvements in basic and tertiary education enrollment, the country still suffers from significant challenges in the quality of educational achievement by almost any international metric. The paper finds that money is clearly not the main issue since the South Africa’s education budget is comparable to OECD countries as a percent of GDP and exceeds that of most peer sub-Saharan African countries in per capita terms. The main explanatory factors are complex and multifaceted, and are associated with insufficient subject knowledge of some teachers, history, race, language, geographic location, and socio-economic status. Low educational achievement contributes to low productivity growth, and high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Drawing on the literature, the paper sketches some policy considerations to guide the debate on what works and what does not.

Despite great progress around the world in getting more kids into schools, too many leave without even the most basic skills. In India’s rural Andhra Pradesh, for instance, only about one in twenty children in fifth grade can perform basic arithmetic. The problem is that schooling is not the same as learning. In The Rebirth of Education, Lant Pritchett uses two metaphors from nature to explain why. The first draws on Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom’s book about the difference between centralized and decentralized organizations, The Starfish and the Spider. Schools systems tend be centralized and suffer from the limitations inherent in top-down designs. The second metaphor is the concept of isomorphic mimicry. Pritchett argues that many developing countries superficially imitate systems that were successful in other nations— much as a nonpoisonous snake mimics the look of a poisonous one. Pritchett argues that the solution is to allow functional systems to evolve locally out of an environment pressured for success. Such an ecosystem needs to be open to variety and experimentation, locally operated, and flexibly financed. The only main cost is ceding control; the reward would be the rebirth of education suited for today’s world.

Containing both theoretical discussions of globalization and specific case analyses of individual African countries, this collection of essays examines the intersections of African education and globalization with multiple analytical and geographical emphases and intentions.