Sub-Saharan Africa continues to fall behind other developing regions regarding educational attainment, despite recent progress in enrollment. This thesis examines a variety of external conditional factors that could contribute to a country’s relative success, in terms of years spent in school using a prediction model that compares years enrolled in secondary education as a foundation to determine over- and under-performing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By exploring various educational policies, historical patterns, and projects executed in Rwanda, South Africa, Ghana, and Botswana, this thesis sheds light on four main challenges that can impact educational attainment: ethnic and racial tensions, an acute shortage of learning materials and trained teachers, inappropriate curricula, and high costs of education. Some of these challenges have been met with an array of policies, with mixed results in terms of the soundness and fairness of policies as well as the effectiveness of implementation. This thesis argues that to facilitate the creation of an effective school system, education policies must focus on more appropriate reallocations of funding, improved teacher-training quality throughout rural regions, applicable and localized curricula, conditional cash transfer programs, and long-term improvements in the job market.

In this work there is accomplished a comparison of long-term intentions of education and development of educational system in four regions of Czech republic - Jihocesky, Karlovarsky, Plzensky, Stredocesky. It's with aim to find how much are these intentions identical or different in chosen educational areas. The work compares fields - parity of opportunities to education, to support of foreign languages and informational and comunication technologies, also area of pedagogical workers and strategy of development individual levels of education according to demographical progress. At the same time, there is made the comparison of these long-term intentions of regions with long-term intentions of education and development of Czech republic.

Title: Transforming teacher education of chemistry in the Czech Republic Abstract: The title of the dissertation is 'Transforming teacher education of chemistry in the Czech Republic'. The work describes and analyzes the current system of the pregraduate prospective teachers' training of chemistry at universities and faculties of science focused on teaching science as well the subsequent in-service education of chemistry teachers in this country. The work also takes into account the post-war development of education in the republic from 1945 until present and the list of all the universities and faculties that educate chemistry teachers. The most important section of this work identifies and analyzes the current state of training and further education of chemistry teachers and the design of chemistry teachers educational conception in the Czech Republic. Key words: teaching profession, undergraduate pre-service teacher training, continuing in-service teacher training/education, educational institutions, curriculum reform, lifelong educatio

This thesis examines the politics of history education, collective memory and identity in contemporary Taiwan through a qualitative case study of the high-school history curriculum reform and controversy from 2002 to 2012. Through eight elite interviews, the evaluation of an extensive amount of primary sources, and the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the relevant history curricula and other official documents, I find that the most visible part of the controversy is a conflict between advocates of a “China-centered historical perspective” and the representatives of a “Taiwan-centered historical perspective”, who both try to reclaim the territory of national history to have their collective memory represented in it. Furthermore, my analysis of the relevant history curricula indicates that all of them are representative of the collective memory of more than one group. This demonstrates that the influence political parties can exert on history education is constrained by competing versions of collective memory. The thesis also shows how the strong tendency towards Taiwan-centered view on history within society has been translated into the history curriculum after the DPP created conducive conditions for meaningful change. Subsequently, the KMT tried to exert influence on the revision process, but continuous attention from the public prevented major changes. In the final analysis, it is very difficult for any political party or powerful group within contemporary Taiwan to impose one exclusive version of the past as national master narrative on the whole society. Competing collective memories of sub-national groups continue to co-exist within civil society, which demands for a more pluralist history curriculum that incorporates smaller “memory communities” in the national narrative to forestall social disunity and further controversy.

The contemporary world of work is undergoing far-reaching changes as a result of global economic developments and technological progress. This has necessitated an appraisal of the school curriculum in order to identify the life skills necessary for vocational success. As the concept of a lifetime career has become obsolete, the accent has shifted to a life chance approach in education. This approach emphasises the wide repertoire of life skills required by learners for successful participation in a range of career possibilities and in the sphere of their personal lives, the two being perceived as inseparable. A literature survey investigated the development of professional careers in historical perspective, the contribution of developmental theorists regarding trends in contemporary career progression, various dimensions of success and what motivates successful men and women in their public and private domains. Furthermore, the adjustments required by dual career couples were examined. Various dimensions of life skills for lifespan competence were investigated, with particular reference to South African society. The life orientation approach currently advocated by the new curriculum in South Africa was briefly described. A qualitative study of the life histories of twelve professionals, forty five years and over was conducted in natural settings in order to explore the life skills responsible for career and personal success. Semi-structured interviews elicited descriptive data from participants, selected by judgement sampling. Data was analysed, discussed and synthesised. The major findings emanated: Success in public and private domains was only possible if a balance between them was maintained. Family background, values and educational experiences created a facilitating environment which contributed to early character development. Certain enabling attributes were essential to achieve both career success and self-fulfilment, even among the less privileged participants. Personal obstacles were confronted and managed. Self-discipline, time management and the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle was vital. The interpenetration of public and private domains was emphasised. A sound work ethic and healthy interpersonal relationships with family, colleagues and the community were crucial. Middle and late adulthood emerged as periods of continuing, dynamic self-development. Based on these findings, recommendations for relevant life skills education were proposed. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Comparative Education)

The thesis deals with teachers' attitudes to changes in the education and the curriculum reform of regional education system in the Czech Republic. The curriculum reform is a significant change for the education policy and the teachers' attitudes are important for the reform implementation. The methodology is based on quantitative and qualitative data analysis. Theoretical basis are the theories about teachers' beliefs and attitudes and a belief system according to Paul A. Sabatier. The teachers' approach to the reform is defined as their acceptance of the reform and the extent of their activities in the reform. The teachers' acceptance of the reform is formulated in two dimensions. The first one is teachers' acceptance of the reform objectives. The other one is teachers' acceptance of the new teacher role as a co-creator of the curriculum. The teachers' attitudes appear to be mainly problematic in the second category which deals to formalism of the reform. As main reasons of teachers' disagreement on the reform were identified the problems in the reform implementation phase, teachers' ideological opposition to the reform, inadequate explanation of the reform meaning by central authorities, which leads to a misunderstanding of the reform objectives by teachers, and an implementation of the reform...

No description available.

Chapter one of this study outlines some of the problems encountered in education today, with particular reference to the 'relevance gap'. This is taken to mean that the education which learners receive does not adequately prepare them for life, i.e. academic life, social life and their later career. The South African scenario is described briefly, with the focus on English language teaching and learning. The importance of English language skills is underlined. This chapter also includes a discussion on the writer's awareness of the problem, the research proposal, aims and method of the study plus a definition of terms. The next chapter argues that the curriculum is at the centre of the education endeavour and indicates that a relevant curriculum is one that (a) is dynamic, (b) focuses on the learner, (c) considers the context within which and for which the learning takes place and (d) includes all the relevant role-players and stakeholders in its design and development. A set of guidelines for developing and implementing a relevant curriculum, are then suggested based on this assumption. This is followed by a description of the traditional curriculum model, as proposed by Robert Zais (1976), and the outcomes-based approach to curriculum design, development and implementation proposed by William Spady (1993). The latter formed the basis for the development of Curriculum 2005 currently being implemented in South Africa. This section serves to illustrate the differences between these two approaches with regard to the principles underlying the approaches and the elements which determine the structure of the curriculum. In chapter four the researcher attempts to evaluate the traditional curriculum and the outcomesbased approach descn"bed in Chapter 3 on the basis of the guidelines for a relevant curriculum outlined previously, i.e. to what degree do these two models satisfy the need for: * a dynamic curriculum which is true to life and responsive to changes within society; * a focus on learner needs and aptitudes; * a careful consideration of the context within which and for which the learning is taking place; and * the inclusion of the relevant stakeholders and role-players in its design, development and implementation. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / M. Ed. (Didactics).

The theoretical part of the thesis deals with the teaching profession in primary schools of art in the 21st century in the context of curricular reform. It addresses not only the readiness of teachers to changes that the curriculum documents bring, but at the same time solves position management (role of directors) in this process. Concretizes the development of the teaching profession from the perspective of management in art schools. The research part of the thesis analyzes the selected documents school curricula, defines the content development for teachers through the training of teachers and emerging approaches of directors in this process. Dissertation will complete the topic by the recommendations of advanced training teachers for the management of teachers in art schools. KEYWORDS teaching profession, competency model, basic art education, curriculum reform, school educational program, the strategy of educational objectives, training of teachers, role and attitudes of directors

Contemporary Italian philosopher, Gianni Vattimo (1991), has described ‘the end of history’ as a motif of our times. While neo-liberal conservatives such as Francis Fukuyama (1992) celebrated triumphantly, and perhaps rather prematurely after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ‘the end of history’ in the ‘inevitable’ global acceptance of the ideologies of free market capitalism and liberal democracy, methodological postmodernists (including Barthes, Derrida, Baudrillard, Lyotard, and Foucault), mobilised ‘the end of history’ throughout the later half of the twentieth century as a symbol of a crisis of confidence in the discourse of modernity, and its realist epistemologies. This loss of faith in the adequacy of representation has been seen by many positivist and empiricist historians as a threat to the discipline of history, with its desire to recover and reconstruct ����the truth���� of the past. It is argued by defenders of ‘traditional’ history (from Appleby, Hunt, & Jacob, 1994; R. J. Evans, 1997; Marwick, 2001; and Windschuttle, 1996; to Zagorin, 1999), and some postmodernists (most notably, Jenkins, 1999), that if we accept postmodern social theory, historical research and writing will become untenable. This study re-examines the nature of the alleged ‘threat’ to history posed by postmodernism, and explores the implications of postmodern social theory for History as curriculum. Situated within a broadly-conceived critical-reconceptualist trend in curriculum inquiry, and deploying a form of historically and philosophically oriented ‘deconstructive hermeneutics’, the study explores past attempts to mount, and future possibilities for, a curricular response to the problem of historical representation. The analysis begins with an investigation of ‘end of history’ discourse in contemporary theory. It then proceeds through a critical exploration of the social meliorist changes to, and cultural politics surrounding, the History curriculum in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, from the Bicentennial to the Millennium (1988-2000), a period that marked curriculum as a site of contestation in a series of highly public ‘history wars’ over representations of the nation’s past (Macintyre & Clark, 2003). It concludes with a discussion of the missed opportunities for ‘critical practice’ within the NSW History curriculum. Synthesising insights into the ‘nature of history’ derived from contemporary academic debate, it is argued that what has remained uncontested in the struggle for ‘critical histories’ during the period under study, are the representational practices of history itself. The study closes with an assessment of the (im)possibility of History curriculum after ‘the end of history’. I argue that if History curriculum is to be a critical/transformative enterprise, then it must attend to the problem of historical representation. / PhD Doctorate