The movement for reforms in science education in Malaysia is to make it more relevant to the majority of students and to develop a desirable workforce in science and technology to achieve the nation's aim of an industrialised status by the year 2020. This case study examines the development and implementation of its primary school science curriculum. It traces the pressures and actions for curriculum change at the primary level as intertwined with the social, economic and historical development of the country. Analysis of the curriculum suggests that its development is based on an objective model, that is, stating of behavioural objectives, means and end product. This meant that curriculum development and implementation be highly centralised, involving a co-ordination of activities between various divisions within the Ministry of Education and the schools, through power-coercive strategies. The Primary School Science curriculum emphasises an enquiry-based learning that develops pupils' science process skills, critical and creative thinking. However, implementation of the curriculum in four primary schools in Malacca showed the following problems: Teachers teaching primary school science lacked confidence and competence. In-service training and assistance in the form of follow-up training, support, resources and personnel were limited and did not help teachers to enhance their capabilities. Science as a highstakes test deskilled the teachers, narrowed instructional strategies and the curriculum. Pupils practised to the test and attended numerous tuition classes. Parents were stressed over their children doing well in the test. Science teaching was mainly `chalk and talk'. Science was presented as a body of knowledge to be memorised. Demands of work, workplace conditions and a highly prescribed curriculum restricted social interaction for teachers to learn from each other. Initial teacher education of primary science teachers was conservative, that conformed to bureaucratic school norms. The conclusions support the view that the process of curriculum change is highly complex. Neither central nor school-based approaches work by themselves.

This study explores the quality assurance mechanisms in primary teacher education programmes in Jordan in order to examine how the participants perceive the systems in their programmes. As a point of reference the English experience in quality assurance was incorporated. The main areas investigated were (i) The components of primary teacher education programmes in Jordan (the objectives, the theory, the school experience, the teaching methods, the management system, and facilities) (ii) The problems that hinder the implementation of the quality assurance systems (iii) Suggestions for promoting quality assurance (iv) Guidelines for quality assurance obtained from the English teacher education programmes. Data was collected from all public Jordanian universities that are concerned with primary teacher education programmes and in 9 English universities and one college. The three main research methods employed in the research were documentary analysis, questionnaires, and the interview. It is concluded that quality assurance systems are not clearly specified or implemented in the primary teacher education programmes in Jordan. The perceptions of the majority of the participants indicated that they were dissatisfied with both the components of the programme and the management system. The study argues that without the co-operation of the people involved in the quality assurance systems, the system will not totally achieve its objectives. Communication and commitment by all the participants are essential if quality assurance systems are to be effectively employed.

The thesis focuses on the interaction between primary teachers' perceptions of Information and Communication Technology (lCT) and their pedagogy. Their perceptions of ICT are explored in terms of their reported understandings of the nature and purpose of ICT in primary schools and the influence these have on pedagogy as an expression of professional knowledge. A qualitative, case study approach was used to investigate the perceptions and pedagogy of a small group of teachers working within one school, . Carberry Junior School'. The study was carried out during an eighteen month period of significant change in primary schools responding to the UK Government's National Grid for Learning initiative and its impact on models of access to ICT resources and expectations in teaching and pupil achievement. The findings provide insight into three dimensions of the teachers' perceptions of ICT: as a social and cultural phenomenon; as an ambiguous construction of a discrete subject, curriculum resource and higher-order capability: as a 'new' field in primary schools. The teachers' professional knowledge is expressed in:their subject knowledge of ICT capability; their pedagogic knowledge with different models of access to ICT resources; their repertoires of representations of ICT; their identity as professionals in the 'Information Age'; their membership of a community of practice engaged in the pedagogical use of ICT. The analysis starts from an interactive model of professional knowledge, proposed by Banks, Leach and Moon. A revised model is proposed for the case study that draws upon Wenger's theory of learning in communities of practice. This has the additional merit of providing a framework to theorise and describe the interaction of the teachers' perceptions of ICT and pedagogy presented in the mutuality between personal experience and emergent practice.

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This study is concerned with a cost-benefit analysis of Higher Education in Greece. The main objective is the calculation of private and social rates of return for both males and females in five different subject groups, i.e. Economics, Law, Mathematics, Medical Sciences and Technical Sciences. The earnings data used come from the Public Sector, Public Power Corporation, Greek Banks, Institution of Social Security, National Health System and the Private Sector. The calculation of the rates of return is based on the differentials between the life-time earnings of a person who has a university degree in one of the subjects considered and a person who enters the job market just after finishing his/her secondary level education. Non-pecuniary returns have not been taken into account. The estimates of the rates of return show that males generally achieve higher returns than females. Moreover, for professions in which people can significantly extend their activities in the private sector, such as Doctors, the observed rates of return are relatively higher than for employees. The private rates of return vary from approximately 17.3% for male doctors to 7.4% for female engineers, whereas the social rates of return vary from 13.4% to 5.6% for the same professions. Thus, the social rates of return appear to be lower than the private rates of return, as has been found in most previous studies of this type. Furthermore, these results have been tested for their sensitivity to the assumptions made about the extent of activities in the private sector and the black economy. The tests carried out show that the results are rather sensitive to the assumptions, especially for occupations with extensive activities in the private sector. The implications of these results for the allocation of government spending on higher education in Greece are discussed.

This cross-cultural study examines the process of transplanting a system of education into a society other than the one from which it had evolved; focusing upon the influence of British Colonial administration and policy on the development of education and most specifically, Physical Education in Ghana. The study revealed that Ghanaian traditional methods, before European contact, and British patterns of education varied considerably, as did the purposes and philosophies they were intended to serve. In the pre-colonial era, a traditional form of education and physical culture had developed to meet the needs of the Ghanaian people. The system was substituted in its entirety during colonial rule, by a form that had evolved in Britain. Following the achievement of Independence in 1957, new incentives were taken to establish an educational system based on traditional lines and aspirations. The reforms introduced were peripheral and unsystematic and therefore gained inadequate support. Eventually, a system was achieved that integrated the relative merits of the two previous systems. Certain issues are raised, relating to the special nature of Physical Education as an aspect of the school curriculum. In conclusion, the study emphasizes the various social, political, economic and geographical variance that must be taken into consideration in establishing a system of education in a given society.

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