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.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This thesis is part of the Research Line Public Policy and School Practice of the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Santa Maria. It is a multiple case study that aimed to identify, interpret and understand the organization of continuous training of public school teachers policies of high school in the cities of Cascavel \ PR and Santa Maria \ RS. In seeking the context of these practices analyzes focused on the Educational Development Program Paraná \ PDE / PR and continuing training policies for teachers resulting from the Proposed Restructuring Curriculum of Secondary Education of the State Secretariat of Rio Grande do Sul Education (SEDUC / RS). The analysis left of the relationship between changes in the workplace that show in different professional sectors, continuing education as a requirement to meet the needs of society governed by the intellectualization of the productive, social and cultural space. In education, continuing education of teachers has been put as essential for professional advancement, this because the decentralized education policy, due to the new organization of the now relaxed and collective work, put on the teacher responsible for the training subjects capable of understanding and enter critically in society. For the development of research used the case study (Yin, 2010; GIL, 2009) and as techniques for data collection semi-structured interviews (CHIZZOTTI, 2012; FLICK, 2009) with teachers and students of state schools as well as analysis technical and official documents of states and schools, laws, plans, courses and continuing education programs sponsored by the Secretaries of State for Education and schools. The main thesis that the proposals for continuing education practice teachers in the public education state networks are consolidating School policies in accordance with the proposals of each State has been confirmed, although in practical terms showed detachment of teachers and students of specific training in the perspective of integrated and polytechnic education. The study made it clear that the inclusion of continuing education programs for teachers contributes to the expansion of production experience and theoretical and methodological knowledge in the subjects that act; He highlighted the contradictions of scientific development that separates science from the workplace and the importance of enhancing teachers' knowledge about the principles underlying the proposed curriculum that takes work, culture, science and technology. / Esta tese integra a Linha de Pesquisa Políticas Públicas e Práticas Escolares do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. Trata-se de um estudo de caso múltiplo que objetivou conhecer, interpretar e compreender a organização das políticas de formação continuada de professores da escola pública estadual do Ensino Médio nos municípios de CascavelPR e Santa MariaRS. Ao buscar a contextualização destas práticas as análises incidiram sobre o Programa de Desenvolvimento Educacional do ParanáPDE/PR e as políticas de formação continuada de professores decorrentes da Proposta de Reestruturação Curricular do Ensino Médio da Secretaria Estadual de Educação do Rio Grande do Sul (SEDUC/RS). A análise partiu das relações existentes entre as mudanças no mundo do trabalho que evidenciam em diferentes setores profissionais, a formação continuada como requisito para atender aos anseios da sociedade regida pela intelectualização do espaço produtivo, social e cultural. No campo educacional, a formação continuada de professores tem sido colocada como imprescindível para o avanço profissional, isto porque as políticas educacionais descentralizadas, fruto da nova organização do trabalho agora flexibilizado e coletivo, colocam no professor a responsabilidade de formar sujeitos capazes de compreender e se inserir criticamente na sociedade. Para o desenvolvimento da pesquisa utilizou-se o estudo de caso (YIN, 2010; GIL, 2009) e como técnicas para a coleta de dados entrevistas semiestruturadas (CHIZZOTTI, 2012; FLICK, 2009) com professores e alunos de escolas estaduais além de análise de documentos técnicos e oficiais dos estados e das escolas, legislações, planos, cursos e programas de formação continuada promovida pelas Secretarias de Estado da Educação e pelas escolas. A tese principal de que as propostas de formação continuada de professores em prática nas redes estaduais públicas de ensino estão consolidando as políticas de Ensino Médio em acordo com as propostas de cada Estado foi confirmada, ainda que no plano prático demonstrasse o distanciamento de professores e de estudantes das especificidades da formação na perspectiva da educação integrada e politécnica. O estudo tornou evidente que a inserção de programas de formação continuada para os professores contribui para a ampliação de experiências e produção de conhecimentos teórico-metodológicos nas disciplinas que atuam; ressaltou as contradições do desenvolvimento científico que separa a ciência do mundo do trabalho, bem como a relevância de potencializar o conhecimento dos professores acerca dos princípios que fundamentam a proposta curricular que assume o trabalho, a cultura, a ciência e a tecnologia.