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This thesis attempts to describe the growth of the central government’s involvement in elementary education, and the corresponding growth of the staffing and expenditure of the Education Department in Whitehall, in terms that have explanatory force. It goes from 1833 to the early 1860s, covering the 1840s and 1850s in most detail. The first chapter establishes a theoretical framework within which education can take its place beside other examples of government intervention. It reasserts the relevance of A.V. Dicey's analysis of the movements of opinion and the corresponding legislative trends, and concludes that in the mid-nineteenth century a description as far as possible in terms of demand factors is the appropriate one. The next two chapters describe the structure and growth of the systems of building grants and pupil-teacher grants; and the consequences for the staffing and expenditure of the Education Department. These are traced in detail, allowing an assessment of the Department's efficiency and the adequacy of the staff to the work, and how these changed over the period. Chapter 4 examines the evidence for Treasury restrictiveness of the Education Department's activities, and finds little, contrary to the assumptions of many accounts of the period. Chapter 5 traces the development of the views of the Newcastle Commission, and of Gladstone's interventions, and relates them to the Revised Code. These are together interpreted as a reassertion, ultimately unsuccessful, of an individualist approach to government intervention against the increasingly collectivist tendency of the system as it had become.

The English private preparatory school evolved from a complex patter of private education which developed in the nineteenth century and which differed in degree and kind from earlier private education. Nineteenth century pattern if provision were determined by the prevailing philosophy of laissez-faire; by increased wealth and expectations of beneficiaries of the industrial revolution; by the improvement in modes of travel; by the introduction of middle class and professional examinations and by the character of those prepared to meet the demand. Social factors as in the case of some proprietary schools and religious factors, as in the case of yet other proprietary schools and many private schools of pious owners, all contributed to the shape the character of the supply which met the demand. Underlying much of this supply, however, was the economic factor of the private profit motive, which also characterised the private preparatory school. In the early years of the century there were classical schools for the sons of gentlemen which intended to specialise in the education of young boys from about eight to fourteen. Other smaller schools, kept by middle class spinsters and married women alike, contributed the evolution of the late nineteenth century preparatory school which by the 1880’s had become an institutionalised phenomenon with close ties with the Royal Navy in providing a supply of young officer material but more especially with the public schools, whose characteristics they mirrored: the institutionalisation of these schools let to their political organisation in the 1890s. By 1914, these two forms of educational institution, with largely antithetical origins, had been closely linked to comprise the major part of secondary education in the independent sector of English education in the twentieth century.

As the intention of this research was to investigate the acquiring of skills in mathematics in primary schools, Egypt (which is considered to be a developing Country) and England (considered to be an advanced country) were chosen to provide different ends of the scale. This piece of research is considered to be of high significance for a number of reasons: firstly, the acquiring of mathematical skills is an important aim in the school curriculum. Secondly, primary school level is an important stage as it is the basis for the other stages. Thirdly, Elementary school mathematical experience may serve in developing one's abilities to understand social institutions, and in equipping one to meet more effectively problems which occur in personal life. Fourthly, there is a deficiency in defining skills practically. Fifthly, there is a lack in evaluating skills objectively. A practical definition and classification of skills have been adapted, developed, and modified. Objective tests for evaluating skills have been designed for both Egypt and England. Children's performance in the test of skills has been analysed, and appropriate comparisons between Egyptian children and English children in acquiring skills have been made. General observations from the children's results have been made. It is hoped that this research will contribute in evaluating and improving the methods of teaching mathematics in primary school in general, and teaching mathematical concepts and skills in particular.

The exponential rate, and structural nature of, change in Libya - demographic, social, cultural, economic, political, infrastructural - have placed a massive strain on its education service to cope with these changes. Currently teachers in Libya are experiencing serious problems in meeting the human capital requirements of Libyan society. Curriculum initiatives are being introduced into Libya with an inadequate support base. As a result there are serious problems currently facing teachers in Libya. They are ill-equipped to cope with the current and prospective demands on education and its ability to service the changes in Libya. In particular the study suggests the need for hugely increased, carefully targeted and efficient in-service (INSET) provision. Through a comprehensive survey, the first to be undertaken in Libya, this thesis identifies the problems that teachers face in Libya, and outlines ways in which INSET can be provided and organised to meet these needs. This thesis 'maps the field' of problems, change and INSET in Libya. Recommendations are made to improve INSET in Libya and a model of person-centred change is provided that is based on a large-scale yet person-centred survey. Conclusions are drawn for change theory and practice that include considerable attention to needs analysis. Common problems and features of INSET are identified, that pattern themselves regardless of characteristics of the sample. The need for increased, differentiated, targeted and person-centred INSET is established, and implications are drawn for teachers, providers of INSET, nspectors and quality assurance. The study indicates how 'top-down' models of change can dovetail with 'bottom-up' models of change, and where INSET is located within these.

This research is an inquiry into the current problems and difficulties of educational administration in Kuwait. The study comprises eight chapters. The introduction defines the scope and purpose of the study and the methodology employed. Chapter Two examines the past and present development of education in the country. Chapter three describes the stages of development of the organisation of the Ministry of Education and its current problems. Chapter Four analyses the trends towards decentralization in the educational system of Kuwait. Chapter Five deals specifically with the individual schools, their administrative structure and function in the Kuwaiti educational system. Chapter Six examines particularly the administrative difficulties in post-secondary education. Chapter Seven discusses the recent academic and administrative problems of university education in Kuwait. The conclusion summarises the current problems of educational administration in Kuwait and Includes suggestions for strategies for change and improvement.

The university environment as a whole was subdivided into five environmental spheres:- the physical, human, institutional, academic and personal. The effects that aspects of each of these five spheres had upon transition were assessed by surveying a randomly selected systematic sample of 25. of the first year undergraduates at Durham and Loughborough during the first term of their first year, in November 1975. These two universities were chosen because of their similarity in proportion of students in residence and similar student numbers. A specially devised questionnaire was used containing questions eliciting students' attitudes .towards aspects of the university situation within each of the five spheres. A Supplementary Survey was conducted during the students' second year (February 1977) to assess the degree of attitude change and adjustment, and to discover the ease with which transition had been accomplished. Between these two surveys interviews had been conducted with students at both universities to discuss more fully the implications of the main Survey. Results obtained from both surveys and interviews were then compared with final degree results, published between 1978 and 1980, and frequency with which students reported experiencing transitional problems, using a specially computed problem score. Individualised characteristics such as age, academic attainment on entry to university, home are~ and school experience were also compared with degree results. and problem reportage. There was a tendency for environmental factors to be leis significantly related to degree success, attrition and problem reportage than some other student characteristics, especially previous academic attainment.

There is no abstract available for this dissertation.

<p> Educators in a low socioeconomic urban school district have been concerned with the quality of professional development (PD) training provided by the district. This issue affects students, parents, and teachers. Guided by the educational philosophy of inquiry and community, which hold that empowering teachers with validated PD could improve teacher pedagogy and perhaps academic outcomes, this project study examined (a) what benefits a standardized professional development content validation program for the 21st century can provide and, (b) what standardized professional development content validation for the 21st century looks like. A sequential exploratory mixed-methods design was used on a purposive sample of 8 teachers, who participated in semistructured, open-ended interviews. A quantitative questionnaire collected perceptions of teachers at the school. Interview data were analyzed via an inductive analysis approach, and survey data were analyzed via descriptive statistics. The findings of this sequential mixed methods research revealed that the content of PD activities often lacked structured validation for teachers to master important skills in their content area, new skills were undiscovered, and their pedagogy was underdeveloped. The outcome was a 3-day workshop designed to provide PD content validation for educators in 1 district in Washington State. Positive social change implications include teachers who can engage students in an informed, confident, professional manner, and increased teacher satisfaction at the research site as well as in other rural schools. Implementing this workshop will provide useful knowledge for policymakers, educators, and other researchers who are looking for a clearer definition of PD content for the 21st century.</p>

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