This research is an investigation of whether 'African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS)' can enhance the achievement of Education for All (EFA) with particular reference to the Chewa people of Zambia. The study raises challenges that many countries have experienced in their effort to achieve EFA. Among the Chewa people of Zambia, quality, relevance and credibility of the education are some of the reasons affecting the provision of education to all. This research has argued that formal schooling education, in its current form may not be the right vehicle to deliver EFA goals. The research has proposed alternative forms of knowledge that could be hybridized with the formal schooling education to address some of the challenges identified. The research has tried to re-appropriate some Chewa AIKS to theorize curriculum and pedagogy reforms that could enhance the achievement of the EFA goals. I have used qualitative research methodology in the study. The respondents in this study were drawn from two areas of community of practice i.e. the Chewa traditional chiefs and elders as perceived custodians of the Chewa AIKS and the educationists, as implementers of education programs and policy and curriculum designers. Key issues identified by this research include the following: that a replacement of the formal schooling education by the AIKS is not an answer to the current challenges facing the provision of meaningful education to all; that through consultations, and co-ordination by all stakeholders and research in AIKS and formal schooling education, either system would shed off elements perceived as barriers to EFA; and be hybridized to complement each other to enhance the achievement of EFA goals; that the formal schooling education should not be considered to be superior to informal and non-formal education systems, but that all are critical components in this quest. Theories and frameworks of hybridization of forms of knowledge/education have been considered in this research. I have argued that hybridizing AIKS with the formal schooling system will only become significant if an economic value is added to the AIKS through some mechanisms put in place. The practical skills embedded in AIKS could foster career building, entrepreneurship and apprenticeship if linked to the money economy of employment and wealth creation. I have argued that there may be need to establish opportunities for AIKS holders to be accredited within the National Qualification Framework and policy framework on AIKS be enacted to regulate and protect IK, and guide the hybridization process. The study highlights three main frameworks on the hybridization of the AIKS and the formal schooling curriculum: (1) Mainstreaming/ Incorporation/ Integration/ infusion of the AIKS into the formal school curriculum. (2) Establishing IK as a core subject with a structure similar to those of other core subjects in the curriculum. (3) Teaching AIKS as a component of the seven official Zambian languages that are taught in schools.

The thesis, professional education in contemporary Serbia, an examination of the transition from state-socialism to post-socialism tries to answer the question of the changing patterns of professional education in contemporary Serbia in the light of the advent of post-socialism, after a very long period of reign of state-socialism. It does so by employing an in-depth historical analysis. It is argued that the economic problems in post-socialism, blocked transformation, exclusion from the European Community, and other problems impacted on the change in professional education patterns. Post-socialism is distinguished by the growing marketization, globalization and the economic intra-dependence, as well as the stronger influence of the emerging markets. In Serbia, it is distinguished by the fragile economic recovery and the emergence of the new economic order. The thesis uses Antonio Gramsci’s concept of hegemony to explain the inevitability of the knowledge economy and Karl Popper’s theoretical concepts developed in his study Open Society and its Enemies. Methodologically, the project used chiefly qualitative methodology: questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions. In addition to this, there is also abundant use of the relevant documents, useful for documentary analysis, as well as biographical method. Empirical conclusions of the project are based on 5 months survey in contemporary Serbia, based on qualitative methodology, and participants were university teachers, lawyers and researchers. Survey is understood here as a social science research technique. The project findings are organized around three major subcategories: democratization, governance and civil society, institutional sustainability and graduate employment, and internationalisation and the European Union. The system of professional education is characterized by the growing democratization, the implementation of the Bologna Process, the introduction of course fees, the overall marketization of education and the emergence of private universities. Policy-makers and educationists should be cautious because this system causes enduring inequalities. Unemployment is also a significant problem for the change in professional education patterns. The influence of markets on professional education is stronger and companies and enterprises are looking for university talent to gain the increase in profit and they have a clear stake in shaping the new system of professional education. This brings significant changes to professional education in general and the creation of the curricula in particular. Although the state-socialist system of professional education was distinguished by the increased level of international cooperation, it is growing more intense and it happens more often in the context of post-socialism. Serbian professionals, educationists, and policy-makers are having many more opportunities for international cooperation.

This thesis argues that to better understand student learning in undergraduate education, it is useful to focus not only on how students are affected by the context of learning but also how they act on the context to achieve their own valued outcomes. The thesis specifically explored the question of ‘how do students regulate their learning in relation to the contextual demands and their own valued outcomes?’ This longitudinal qualitative study has focused on a group of undergraduates following a four year degree course in Psychology in a Sri Lankan university. I have used an analytical framework informed by Engeström’s version of Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) for data analysis. Accordingly, I have conceptualised student learning in the undergraduate course as a network of activity systems that weaves together people and cultural tools to transform the collective purpose of learning. It emerged in the analysis of the activity system that students’ learning is affected mainly by tensions or dilemmas arising from the collective purpose and the institutional assessment practices. The collaborative attempt to change the purpose and the context of learning by students’ and their lecturers has mutually transformed both the collective purpose (object) and the students’ identities and increased their action possibilities. This dialectical process is mediated by the cultural tools which included curriculum, teaching and assessment as well as social relationships. In the analysis of individual differences in achieving expansive learning there emerged five interacting factors which included; a student’s past history of education; goal setting; motivation for transforming identity; mobilising resources and views on the object and tools used on the course. These factors do not operate in isolation and they interact within an individual’s socio-cultural context of learning, which simultaneously operates with the collaborative activity of student learning in the undergraduate course. The above findings are synthesised into a model for understanding student learning in undergraduate education and the implications for policy, practice and further research are presented at the end of the thesis. The thesis also addresses the issue of striking a balance between enhancing employability skills and providing a broad higher education based on liberal values. This arises directly from my research and is a part of current academic debates within higher education. It is argued that conceptualising student learning in undergraduate education as a dialectical change process of identity transformation of students, which is mediated by social relationships and cultural tools, may be helpful in resolving this issue. The thesis also suggests ways to conceptualise student learning in undergraduate courses, as a network of activity systems, which weaves together people and cultural tools to transform the collective purpose of learning. Such an approach can transform students’ identities and increase their possibilities for actions in intellectual, cultural, economic, social and moral spheres of life.

This thesis focuses on the analysis and discussion of issues and factors influencing Libyan students’ subject choices at undergraduate level. It reviews the literature in the field, situating the study firmly in the context of educational research. However, it is noted that this literature has mainly emerged from Western contexts, and hence cultures. Nonetheless, the body of literature is used as a framework to analyse the Libyan case. The main research question focuses on the main factors influencing the choice process in respect of the field of study for first year undergraduates at Libyan universities. Further questions regarding why students choose to attend university, their perceptions of subjects, and the concerns and influences brought to bear in the choice process are posed. A mixed methods approach is adopted in which the research sample comprises first year students at four different universities in Libya, in order to identify any differences and similarities in the choice process among the students in different regions and different disciplines. Both questionnaire survey and interviews are used to secure fact and opinion regarding the mechanisms employed by students to make their choice of subject. Four different subjects are considered so that comparisons can be made of the influences that are brought to bear in student choice. Underpinning the research instruments is the theoretical framework consisting of cultural capital, social capital, and human capital, as obtained from the comprehensive literature review. The research was conducted in two phases, the first being quantitative, in which 2,209 questionnaires were completed by first year students at two coastal city universities and two rural city universities in Libya. The second phase was qualitative, and involved 65 individual interviews, together with a focus group discussion to cater for female students who excused themselves from participating in the individual interviews because of their religious and cultural beliefs. The research findings show that the subject choice process is influenced by multiple factors and that substantial differences between subject choices are seen among urban and rural students, the latter being destined to study in poorly equipped rural universities. As evidenced in the responses, there is no equity in the provisions of Libyan universities. A further result is that the student’s academic ability has little influence on the selection process, and that other factors such as the parents’ level of education, institutional infrastructure, career prospects and geographical location play important parts in influencing the decision. More interestingly, the study established that students from urban areas with educated parents are more likely to take courses offered in long established universities in the cities. The thesis concludes by highlighting the pertinent points in the research, and makes recommendations for Libyan policy-makers and higher education institutions on how to facilitate the improvement of the student subject choice process. Additionally, it suggests possible avenues for further research area around the topic of this thesis. As a final note, the thesis offers a brief explanation of the socio-political, economic and cultural changes that have taken, and continue to take place, since the overthrow of the previous regime on 23rd October, 2011.

Bangladesh has made significant progress in terms of improving student access and gender disparity at primary and secondary levels of education. Currently, the major concern is the quality of education. In the national interest, the government of Bangladesh has undertaken a number of intervention programmes to increase the quality of primary and secondary education. Recently, researchers and practitioners are more engaged in investigating the quality of education, particularly at primary and secondary levels, where they have focused on the following themes: • internal efficiency • achievement of basic competency • acquisition of terminal competencies • teacher education • private expenditure on education There has been little application of School Effectiveness Research (SER) in Bangladesh, though SER became one of the most important educational movements and discourses in the West and came to prominence very rapidly in other developed and developing countries, namely Australia, Canada, South Africa, Indonesia, China and India. Therefore, the current study is significant in that it explores contemporary issues in the Bangladesh education system, which influence student academic attainment and present the findings of the first school effectiveness study in Bangladesh using multi-level analysis. Reviewing SER in other developed and developing countries, I discuss the status of SER in Bangladesh. This is followed by an assessment of the education system, educational management and policy making procedure at secondary level in Bangladesh to aid readers’ understanding. Different perspectives of what constitutes ‘school effectiveness’ are illustrated, in the light of important issues such as models and the theory of SER, effect size, consistency and stability. Various criticisms of SER are also illustrated, along with a number of counterpoints to justify the importance of SER. The significant methodological aspect (i.e. multi-level analysis with ‘value added’ approach) is introduced, along with other different types of statistical analysis, for example, descriptive and cross tabulation (chi-square) analysis and exploratory factor analysis. The normalised public examination scores of 2,462 students nested into 90 classes and 45 schools are analysed by means of multi-level modelling. The multi-level analysis of the data shows that most of the variations were found at the student level. A significant proportion of variations was also found at class level accounting for prior attainment, background factors and some class level process factors implying that teacher effect on pupil attainment is greater than school effect. It is argued that it is possible to construct a model of school effectiveness in the Bangladeshi setting. The findings of my research indicate that factors external to the schools are more important than school level factors for academic attainment. Student academic attainment and academic self-concept were found to be positively correlated. The interrelation between the two variables is significantly higher at school level than at class and student levels. A significant proportion of variation in academic attainment was found to be at class level, implying that teachers ‘make the difference’, not schools and that the teachers who teach individual classes within the school are the key factors for effective teaching and learning outcome. Finally, the policy implications of my findings are discussed and a framework is proposed for measuring school effectiveness in Bangladesh.

This study explores college management in the context of a Muslim, post-colonial, LDC (low developing country) situation. The thesis focuses on institutional heads, both male and female, to investigate their roles, practices and the possibilities of management development. It examines the interplay of the discourses of religion, education, management, leadership, and gender, as expressed through the participants’ experiences. Moreover, professional, socio-economic, political, and ideological forces are critically examined as contributive to shaping the discourses and subjectivities, and being shaped in the process. The qualitative study is conducted from a poststructuralist theoretical perspective, but is underpinned by Islamic philosophical thought. This encourages an exploration of the related discourses, their fluid boundaries and an inherent power-play, and points to the movements from margins to centres and vice versa. It allows for a critical exploration of the 'political technologies' aiming at decentring or accessing the 'centre', with particular reference to education, gender and Islam. The thesis begins by providing a background to the research and positions the researcher. Relevant international literature is reviewed as a backdrop for later discussions, to highlight differences and commonalties. The broad framework of the research is detailed next to explain theoretical and methodological choices, followed by a discussion of the research design and its emergent multifaceted nature. Research findings, collected mainly through two diverse methods, postal surveys and in-depth interviewing, are presented and analysed separately in response to the theoretical inclines. The analysis unveils the practices involved in construction, validation and dissemination of 'discourses' and 'regimes of truth'. The concluding discussion unmasks the patriarchal power-play exploiting various modes of ordering practices and relationships on a specific educational site, and how these aim at depowering and/or empowerment through institutionalised boundaries. The study also highlights areas of management development for the college heads, and argues for context-specific programs for improved effectiveness.

Using poststructuralist notions of `texts', `textuality ', `discourse', `subjectivity' and `knowledge, this study explores the kinds of meaning links and the location of these links as made by a group of 14-16 year olds Tongan students when they read a range of literary and informative texts (poems, short stories, advertisements, cartoon). To construct `reading vignettes' of the students as to the discursive constructedness of their meaning links, I adopted a variety of methods: gaining information from school documents, students/teachers open-response questionnaires, and on-line and ad hoc reading tasks. The data from these sources suggests the need to explore alternative ways of looking at reading practices and the nature of response in Tongan classrooms. I did this using a poststructuralist, pedagogical framework of scaffolding and problematising. This entailed soliciting the cooperation of a co-teacher to demonstrate various ways of poststructuralist scaffolding during reading. A select group of students were chosen to be engaged in these scaffolding sessions. The study found that meaning links are not only fluid, but paradoxical in nature and that such links are triggered by textual ideas that are of relevance and interest to the reader. Moreover, such links are located variously, either inscribed in texts or constituted from discoursal discursive practices framing response. Personal links are particular to how each has been historically constituted as a reader and vary according to texts, gender, biographical backgrounds, and even in rereadings of the same texts. Most are rooted in alignments to do with minority issues (gender, race), interests, and beliefs. However, at a broader, discoursal level, these meaning links share a commonality in the location of their sources, that of clearly defined Tongan notions of family solidarity, religion and hierarchical social roles. Both the readers' personal and socio-cultural meanings therefore constitute and are constitutive of their interpretation and both impact upon each other. Texts are constructed with a set of assumed prior knowledge for readers. The study found that if a text's set of knowledge is not in the readers' knowledge repertoire, the reader takes recourse to other meanings to fill in sutures in the texts other than the dominant reading. Despite being scaffolded on ways to problematise textual constructions and ideology, some unwittingly fell prey to textual ideology because of a limited repertoire of other knowledge links to interpret texts alternatively or an inability to perceive textual construction. Some however, knowingly chose to align with textual ideology when it concurs with theirs, whilst those who read against a text's preferred reading, gave a range of readings rooted in alignments constituted by personal, socio-cultural and political ideologies. Such findings imply that if the text's assumed knowledge is not shared by the reader, a poststructuralist reading approach enables the reader to utilise various strategies and knowledge links either to appropriate such knowledge, transform, or resist it. This is potentially useful in Tongan classrooms and particularly with those raised in a culture of hierarchy and textually deferential readings. The findings in general suggests that a poststructuralist reading approach allows students to identify and bring to the fore, often subjugated knowledges; explore and negotiate a range of meaning possibilities; and exercise meaning choices whilst critically cognisant of the range of knowledges at stake. In the process of this negotiation, they refine and develop wide-ranging ideas. The findings have important implications for a poststructuralist, bilingual framework to reading pedagogy and assessment in Tonga either for studies in English, the vernacular, or any other subject area, particularly in terms of giving voices to, and carving out spaces for those whose meanings tend to be marginalised in language classrooms.

All investors aim at maximizing the returns on their investment. Many individuals in the workforce invest in themselves by the pursuit of further studies on a part-time basis in order to better equip themselves, face the challenges ahead and map out a brighter career path. Yet, they may make their educational decisions without adequate data and support, which leads to a less-than-optimal choice. They sometimes overestimate the potential of salary increase and career advancement upon finishing the programme. This research is undertaken to examine how individual people in the Hong Kong workforce seek information to make their decisions for their part-time education programmes. A combination of quantitative questionnaire survey and qualitative semi-structured interviews was adopted in this research. A questionnaire survey was carried out with a sample size of 55 university students in part-time evening classes. Then, a sub-sample of 16 students took part in the semi-structured interviews. Using grounded theory, I identified eight different themes from the results: motivation to study; information-seeking process; information needs and obtainment; difficulties in information-seeking process; perceptions of returns on human capital investment; comparison between human capital investment and financial investment; career guidance services and labour relations in Hong Kong. The quantitative data from questionnaires are analysed for better triangulation, verification and contextualisation of the research findings. There are several findings in this study. First, the returnees to higher education who participated in this research were motivated by a wide range of factors. Secondly, educational institutions and peers were their key information sources. Thirdly, they would rather focus on the details relating to their interested programme than aim at a broader view including information on the current labour market situation and the possible outcomes upon accomplishment of their programme. Another point is the insufficient information they obtained. This could not fulfil their genuine needs. Moreover, different obstacles existed in the returnees’ intrinsic characters, information sources and interactions between the returnees and the information sources during their information searching process. Following that, most returnees perceived that information on projections of returns on human capital investment was generally important in their educational decision making. Besides, they believed further studies were of low risk with long-term benefits but financial investment was of high risk with short-term benefits. In addition, they showed misunderstanding and lack of awareness about career guidance services. Furthermore, self-efficacy in educational decision making is determined by a number of factors affecting maturity. Finally, it is found that the labour relations in Hong Kong have been showing signs of deterioration. A number of implications for policy based on the findings are identified in this research. To begin with, guidance services catering for the special needs of individuals in the workforce and part-time students should be developed and widely promoted. Besides, past cohorts can be invited as informal mentors and volunteers to answer questions from the prospective returnees. Following the point mentioned above, partnership programmes can be established between lecturers and guidance officers in educational institutions to create a win-win situation. Information providers can pay more attention to ensure that quality of information provided is accurate, up-to-date and specific. What’s more, projections of returns on human capital investment and risk management are necessary to be included as part of the basic programme information. Last but not the least, a credit accumulation and transfer system should be developed among institutions of higher education in Hong Kong.

Although it is claimed that private education is a recent phenomenon in the developing world, criteria of private educations and their schemata have evolved out of historical practices. The introduction of private education in South Asia was implemented by a process known as 'Gru-Shiso'. An individual with a good analytical knowledge was considered as `Gru' and his or her followers were known as 'Shiso'. Exercising knowledge through Gru-Shiso had always been a fundamental part of education in Bangladesh. With the gradual increase of demand for education in contemporary Bangladesh, there has been an increase in private education provision though most acknowledge that education should be the fundamental concern of public policy. In Bangladesh, education is considered as the weapon of development and it is important to ensure the equal right of every individual to have access to education. However, with the advantage of a sound financial background, privileged individuals are not only accessing better quality education, but also gain a better quality of life through improved access to better quality fundamental goods and rights. The recent expansion of private higher education has thus not only opened the door for the privileged to access better quality education, but it has helped those within the elite that would not normally get access to higher education the means by which to enter this form of provision. This has had significant impact on the quality of HE and research in Bangladesh. It is important thus that issues of governance and regulation with the private HE sector be addressed since it affects the whole HE system. Earlier, private education was provided on a very small scale and was not a major concern of public policy. However, its recent expansion has become a cause for major concern. The public policies currently available, particularly with regard to governance and regulatory control, are aimed at governing public education and private education lacks adequate rules and regulations. A further problem in Bangladesh is that the ruling elite do not always confirm to the rules and regulations of the state system. As the main consumers of private education this means that private education provision often lacks the governance and control to make it an effective form of provision. Thus the huge responsibility of public policy is to ensure a regulatory environment that is able to deal with these concerns. The main contention of the thesis is to argue for the development of a PHEC that will fulfil this kind of function.

This thesis is principally concerned with the period between the two Education Acts of 1918 and 1944 and as such, builds on and contributes to the history of education in Wales. Although a number of studies1 have examined aspects of Welsh education there has not been a strong focus on its development during the interwar years. This particular period is generally regarded as one ”untouched by significant research.”2 In spite of this neglect, it was an extremely interesting period, and one when the service was faced with grave difficulties: austerity during the depression years, and severe disruption caused by evacuation during the Second World War. The period culminates with the serious negotiations which preluded the Education Act 1944, which was the only major piece of social legislation to be pass onto the statute books during the war years.3 The study is set against overarching national education legislation and considers how this affected implementation in south and south west Wales. The research differs from previous studies in that it focuses on a neglected period in the history of education in Wales. It identifies and documents the way in which two major sources of influences: politics and religion shaped the society which predisposed education provision in south and south west Wales to be modified in specific ways. It draws strongly on the work of Welsh historians to assess the effect of non-conformity in Wales and how society became radicalised after the publication of the Blue Books in 1847. It explores the part that the non-provided sector had in delaying education change and also identifies the considerable differences that developed between education in England and Wales, caused partly by the Welsh Intermediate Education Act of 1889 and partly by the attitudes and influences of Welsh politicians at all levels.