UNESCO has been a forerunner in the field of mainstreaming of gender which is evident in countless conferences and publications, notably in its Checklist for the Integration of Gender Issues in the Evaluation of UNESCO’s Programmes (UNESCO 1999b ). The branch with special responsibility for questions of Adult Literacy has been the UNESCO Institute of Education (UIE). Careful historical-comparative analysis of its publications reveals a varied picture on the question of gender. On the one hand it has published evaluation manuals (Bhola 1990, Easton 1996) in which gender goes virtually unnoticed. And on the other there are collected essays of workshops organised and published by the UIE which present some of the strongest voices on the subject, notably Sara Longwe (1997, 1999a), the exponent of the evaluation tool, Women’s Empowerment Framework. While personnel changes in the UIE in the course of the nineties may be a partial explanation, there are other ambiguities in its policies and practice which are not as easily explained. When the evaluation reports of literacy programmes published as exemplary practice by the UIE are examined they reveal some striking differences. Two evaluations of literacy programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa were analysed, one in Oyo State, Nigeria (Omolewa et al. 1998) and the other being the National Literacy Programme of Namibia (Lind 1996). The methods of analysis were both the UNESCO Checklist and the Women’s Empowerment Framework. They both have received wide acceptance within this particular field. Furthermore, their use provides a means of internal comparison. What the study reveals is a striking discrepancy between such policy and the actual practice of evaluation, and at the same time it becomes clear that the Women’s Empowerment Framework is the more rigorous of the two. Particularly in the analysis of the Oyo programme evaluation it becomes evident that such a gender approach is able to uncover significant failures, particular with regard to its patriarchal notion of “empowerment”. Although it too falls short of the standards, the evaluation of the Namibian programme comes a lot closer to the requirements. An explanation for the discrepancy between the two may be located in the fact that whereas the Oyo evaluation was conducted by a team of local consultants, all of whom were male, the Namibian evaluation was a joint local-international initiative with an equal male-female balance. Further study of UIE’s other published evaluation reports would however be necessary in order to confirm such a conclusion. What the study does succeed in establishing is the way in which the role of UNESCO through the UIE’s has been that of a facilitator. By bringing different emphases into dialogue with one another it has served to open up new directions in the field of gender and literacy programme evaluation. / Public Administration / M.A.

UNESCO has been a forerunner in the field of mainstreaming of gender which is evident in countless conferences and publications, notably in its Checklist for the Integration of Gender Issues in the Evaluation of UNESCO’s Programmes (UNESCO 1999b ). The branch with special responsibility for questions of Adult Literacy has been the UNESCO Institute of Education (UIE). Careful historical-comparative analysis of its publications reveals a varied picture on the question of gender. On the one hand it has published evaluation manuals (Bhola 1990, Easton 1996) in which gender goes virtually unnoticed. And on the other there are collected essays of workshops organised and published by the UIE which present some of the strongest voices on the subject, notably Sara Longwe (1997, 1999a), the exponent of the evaluation tool, Women’s Empowerment Framework. While personnel changes in the UIE in the course of the nineties may be a partial explanation, there are other ambiguities in its policies and practice which are not as easily explained. When the evaluation reports of literacy programmes published as exemplary practice by the UIE are examined they reveal some striking differences. Two evaluations of literacy programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa were analysed, one in Oyo State, Nigeria (Omolewa et al. 1998) and the other being the National Literacy Programme of Namibia (Lind 1996). The methods of analysis were both the UNESCO Checklist and the Women’s Empowerment Framework. They both have received wide acceptance within this particular field. Furthermore, their use provides a means of internal comparison. What the study reveals is a striking discrepancy between such policy and the actual practice of evaluation, and at the same time it becomes clear that the Women’s Empowerment Framework is the more rigorous of the two. Particularly in the analysis of the Oyo programme evaluation it becomes evident that such a gender approach is able to uncover significant failures, particular with regard to its patriarchal notion of “empowerment”. Although it too falls short of the standards, the evaluation of the Namibian programme comes a lot closer to the requirements. An explanation for the discrepancy between the two may be located in the fact that whereas the Oyo evaluation was conducted by a team of local consultants, all of whom were male, the Namibian evaluation was a joint local-international initiative with an equal male-female balance. Further study of UIE’s other published evaluation reports would however be necessary in order to confirm such a conclusion. What the study does succeed in establishing is the way in which the role of UNESCO through the UIE’s has been that of a facilitator. By bringing different emphases into dialogue with one another it has served to open up new directions in the field of gender and literacy programme evaluation. / Public Administration and Management / M.A.

Paper One: Social and emotional literacy has become an educational agenda on a national and international level. Schools universally are addressing deviant behaviour through a social learning perspective. Emotional literacy (EL) reflects three of the five outcomes for “Every Child Matters: Change for Children” (DfES, 2003): to be healthy, to enjoy and achieve and to make a positive contribution. EI is also embedded in the legal framework for the associated reform that is set out in the Children Act (2004). The five outcomes for Every Child Matters are statutory demands on educational institutions and welfare services. Since EL is reflected in the outcomes, it suggests that it too needs to be addressed. However, schools have the flexibility in how they chose to address it. This study aims to evaluate a personalised approach in promoting EL in Key Stage Two (KS2) children in one primary school. A pre and post design was used to evaluate the school’s new approach (NA). Class teachers completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) for 75 children pre-NA and post-NA. Statistical tests were used to: 1) Compare the pre SDQ scores to the post SDQ scores to determine whether the NA produced a significant change. 2) Determine where there was a significant difference between the research sample scores and the expected value scores according to the classification of the SDQ scores. 3) Compare the research sample SDQ scores to the SDQ scores from the norm data of the British population. Results of the statistical analysis suggest that the NA was effective as there was a significant improvement in the overall general behaviour according to the total difficulties scores. The statistical analysis revealed mixed results for the five scale scores. The hyperactivity scale, the peer problems scale and the emotional symptoms scale showed significant improvements. However, the pro social scale showed a significant decline and the conduct problems scale was the only scale that showed no significant difference between pre-NA and post- NA. Further tests conducted to strengthen the quality of the sample showed the pro social scale was in line with the British norms even with the significant decline. Similarly, the conduct problems scale was in line with the British norm post-NA. The research has produced encouraging statistics for the effectiveness of NA on the children’s behaviour, however, it calls for a re-evaluation of the NA in order to improve the pro social behaviour and lessen conduct problems. Section One Introduction 1.1 Purpose Personal, social and emotional development is as much a concern as academic development in children. Research suggests that social and emotional skills are needed to succeed in school (Thompson, 2002) to establish and sustain relationships, reduce aggressive behaviour (Nagin & Tremblay, 1999) and create an ideal learning and teaching environment. The objective of this research is to determine whether the school’s personalised EL programme (NA) produces favourable behavioural outcomes in children. Paper Two: Social and emotional literacy has become an educational agenda on a national and international level. Schools universally are addressing deviant behaviour through a social learning perspective. Emotional literacy (EL) reflects three of the five outcomes for “Every Child Matters: Change for Children” (DfES, 2003): to be healthy, to enjoy and achieve and to make a positive contribution. EI is also embedded in the legal framework for the associated reform that is set out in the Children Act (2004). The five outcomes for Every Child Matters are statutory demands on educational institutions and welfare services. Since EL is reflected in the outcomes, it suggests that it too needs to be addressed. However, schools have the flexibility in how they chose to address it. This study aims to evaluate a personalised approach in promoting EL in Key Stage Two (KS2) children in one primary school. A pre and post design was used to evaluate the school’s new approach (NA). Class teachers completed Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires (SDQs) for 75 children pre-NA and post-NA. Statistical tests were used to: 1) Compare the pre SDQ scores to the post SDQ scores to determine whether the NA produced a significant change. 2) Determine where there was a significant difference between the research sample scores and the expected value scores according to the classification of the SDQ scores. 3) Compare the research sample SDQ scores to the SDQ scores from the norm data of the British population. Results of the statistical analysis suggest that the NA was effective as there was a significant improvement in the overall general behaviour according to the total difficulties scores. The statistical analysis revealed mixed results for the five scale scores. The hyperactivity scale, the peer problems scale and the emotional symptoms scale showed significant improvements. However, the pro social scale showed a significant decline and the conduct problems scale was the only scale that showed no significant difference between pre-NA and post- NA. Further tests conducted to strengthen the quality of the sample showed the pro social scale was in line with the British norms even with the significant decline. Similarly, the conduct problems scale was in line with the British norm post-NA. The research has produced encouraging statistics for the effectiveness of NA on the children’s behaviour, however, it calls for a re-evaluation of the NA in order to improve the pro social behaviour and lessen conduct problems.