This thesis compares two methods of teaching, identified as the `dialogue and discussion method' and the `lecture method'. An historical account is given of the Saudi educational system. The two methods are discussed in terms of the Saudi system and with reference to their theoretical foundations. The research investigates the effect of the use of these methods as shown by students' academic performance and teaching skills in the teaching practice programme. The researcher designed an experiment to compare the effects of teaching lessons in the specific teaching methods courses for three academic subjects with a group of fourth level students in the college of education at King Faisal University. After ensuring the best possible equivalence between the groups, the researcher carried out the experiment with the two groups and applied a post-test to find their levels of achievement after they have studied using different methods. Further,t herew as a comparisonb etweent he sameg roupsr elatingt o their techniquesa nd teachings kills performanced uringt he teachingp ractice programmein schools. The results show that the lecture method when used on student teachers during their theoretical training programme produced significantly lower student achievements. However, there was no significant difference between teaching skills of student teachers in the two groups, as related by academic supervisors. The appropriateb alanceb etweend ialoguea nd discussiona ndl ecturem ethodsa nd the persistenceo f any effectsr emaint o be investigatedF. urthere xperimental researcheasr e suggestedto includef emalesa nd other studentss ucha s thosei n medical and military training

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This study is a study on educational costs. Its main focus is recurrent costs in secondary schools in the state of Negeri Sembilan in Malaysia. It is concerned with issues pertaining to the relationship among educational costs, the distribution of costs among inputs and how various inputs are utilised in teaching and learning. Two basic themes form the basis of the study - the efficiency and equity in resource utilisation and distribution. The study is firstly an analysis of cost quantities and their distribution by the various educational inputs; personnel inputs - teachers and non-teaching staff, and non-personnel /non-salary inputs. Secondly, the study focuses on the rate of teacher utilisation in terms of their time on tasks. This is done by undertaking a survey of teaching loads and class size. Thirdly, the study pursued the issue of equity in the distribution of educational resources by undertaking a survey of teacher salaries and teaching experience as well as by analysing fiscal school income by means of capitation grants. Findings from the research uncover variations in costs in schools. Factors affecting costs were mainly the pupil teacher ratio, teacher costs, boarding costs and nonpersonnel costs in Vocational schools. The inherent dominance of teacher costs in the teaching industry is also confirmed by this research. The study also provides evidence of wastage in teacher utilisation, maldistribution of teacher' quality', disparities in the distribution of fiscal non-personnel resources, suggesting to an extent inefficiencies and inequalities in the pattern of recurrent costs in schools. There was also an overwhelming advantage in economies of scale. In summary, the study revealed that educational costs analysis can help in the following areas namely in the identification of cost quantities, factors affecting costs, rates of utilisation of educational resources and the distribution of resources. Major findings from the study show possible applications to planning and policymak:ing. Areas identified are in cost estimations and evaluation, cost comparisons for various purposes, management and control of resomces, efficiency and equity considerations in utilising and distributing of educational resources. In the context of the recent economic crisis, education in Malaysia will be faced with pressures both from the fiscal and demographic fronts. In this condition, it will be Abstract 111 difficult even to maintain the current level of expenditure on education. Research findings from this study can therefore be a recipe for cost saving and cost containment. Policies that promote efficient use of existing scarce resources are obviously necessary. Above all, a prerequisite vital to all this is an urgent need to strengthen the informational basis for cost analysis in Malaysia.

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The thesis analyses how large European chemical companies assimilated biotechnology during the 1980s and what effect this had on the structure and organisation of their innovative capabilities. Since their establishment in the early 1900s these companies have grown, through a process of innovation and technological diversification, into very large and successful multinational and multiproduct firms today world-wide leaders in their sector. This was to a large extent made possible by their ability to develop internally their own technology and master scientific and technological advance in synthetic chemistry. The emergence of biotechnology (one of the most important and powerful generic technologies of the 20th century) in an institutional and scientific setting largely external to their core competences, posed them the problem of "learning" and "innovation" in new terms. New strategies for "learning" had therefore to be developed and implemented. Biotechnology was largely assimilated by these firms as an enabling technology rather than a product technology and this had for them a number of implications for the organisation of the R&D function and of searching procedures. Differences in strategic behaviour and decision-making in the process of learning and capability building in the new technology can be related both to structural differences in their own national system of innovation (i. e. science system) and differences in corporate cultures (i. e. visions and beliefs). On a theoretical ground these case studies of learning in a radically new technology question directly the concept of learning developed within an evolutionary approach to the theory of the firm and of innovation, and provide some theoretical insights on the links between organisational and technical change in a case of a very science based technology

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The thesis is focussed on three related areas: i) policy-making perceptions of Gambian secondary schooling, and how their limitations can be improved through an awareness of institutional realities; ii) an examination of key intra-school features of secondary schooling in two case-study schools (a high, and a secondary technical school); iii) an examination of the perceptions a cross-section of typical modern-sector employers have of secondary education, and secondary school leavers; as well as the training and employment orientations that the two forms of secondary education tend to give school-leavers. The problem the research is concerned about is formulated through an illustration of the historical emergence of perceptions of the nature and role of Gambian secondary schooling. This is followed by an examination and analysis of subsequent and current policy perceptions of the function, nature, problems and solutions, associated with the two types of secondary schools. This offers part of the rationale for the research. Issues in the literature of education and development are used to put the Gambian situation in perspective, as well as to situate the thrust and justification of the research.Case-study data from the two schools are used to indicate the limitations of policy makers' perceptions of secondary schooling, and the benefits that can come from an informed dialogue between policy and schools. A comparative analysis of the two schools is used for the purpose of bringing out the less obvious, and perhaps more meaningful and tell-tale educational features about them. These are used to demonstrate the limitations of relying on aggregated assumptions about national school-types, as well as to indicate contextual features that one may use to qualify the application of cross-national educational factors. To the extent that part of the status of the data relating to school-leavers is in terms of outcomes of official policy on secondary education, it is used to exemplify the educational factors employers refer to when employing secondary school leavers. To complement this, there is also an examination of the extent to which type of secondary school attended is related to school-leavers' perceptions of post-secondary school opportunities. The presentation of the thesis is organised according to three clusters of chapters; background, data-based, and analytical. The background chapters consist of contextual historical information, issues in the literature, rationales, and methodological issues. The data-based chapters consist basically of policy issues, and the school case-studies. The analytical chapters consist of syntheses of policy perceptions and institutional features, and comparisons of the case-studies; as well as issues about the post-school context. They also provide the means of indicating theoretical and policy-orientated issues that the research attempts to draw attention to.

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The aim of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of primary teachers in Kuwait and to identify the factors which could hinder this effectiveness. To do this, the author chose to use the process-product criterion. The research begins by identifying the different teaching styles among primary teachers (process) and then relating them to pupil achievement (product) in order to discover which of the identified styles was more effective than the others. The study focused on teachers of Arabic Language, Science and Mathematics in Grades three and four. Several research methods were used, the main one being the questionnaire. Four hundred and ten questionnaires were distributed on a proportional, clustered, yet random basis. The data so gathered was then analysed using the cluster analysis technique. The results show that Kuwaiti primary teachers can be classified into four teaching styles, and the characteristics and the differences between the styles are discussed in detail. Furthermore, twenty respondent teachers were observed, five from each style, in order to identify the interaction between pupils and teachers, and also to validate some of the information gathered by the questionnaire. The data relating to the results achieved by pupils taught by 84 of the teachers in the four different styles was collected in two different periods (January and May). These results were analysed using the residual change score. The analysis showed that there were differences in pupil progress in the four teacher styles in that pupils who were taught by teachers in Style 2 achieved better results in Arabic Language and Science, and those who were taught by teachers in Style 4 obtained better results in Mathematics. The behaviours of the most successful teachers in the three subjects are discussed in detail and it was found that those teaching Arabic Language and Science presented behaviours, such as clearer lesson presentation, paying more attention to the entire class and being less inclined to use punishment and the threat of punishment to maintain control, while Style 4 teachers used class teaching more and were more inclined to use punishment and the threat of punishment in maintaining class control. Forty-eight teachers selected randomly were interviewed in an attempt to establish those factors which influence and hinder the effectiveness of primary teachers in the classroom. The main factors were considered. The direct factors were class size, teaching load, lack of modem teaching aids, and scarcity of in-service courses. The indirect factors were the low social status of teachers in the community, low salary, the school administration's maltreatment of teachers, lack of moral and material incentives, lack of parental co-operation, inaccurate assessment of teachers by their superiors, and the indifferent attitude of some teachers towards improving their teaching standards.