Several research studies have shown that many disadvantaged children leave school or never attend for different reasons, the key ones being poverty, child labor, distance to schools, over-age attendance, nomadic or pastoralist life styles, gender – where girls’ poor attendance or access is linked to cultural/religious factors or gender-insensitive school environments – ill health and disability – leading to inconsistent attendance – and loss of one or both parents, leaving children without household support for their education (Hunt, 2008; Akyeampong et al., 2007). However, schools can also intentionally or unintentionally ‘push’ disadvantaged children out through unresponsive pedagogy that excludes them from much of the learning process. Many such children are usually assumed to be the least educable, from poor and often illiterate families and having come late to schooling or at least had their education disrupted. Their disadvantaged backgrounds often compromise their readiness to learn. Unlike traditional pedagogical practices in many African classrooms, which are characterized by strong teacher-centered teaching, a pedagogy developed in an accelerated learning program (ALP) known as the ‘Speed School’ program in Ethiopia, demonstrates potential to give such children more control over how they learn. This paper discusses how the pedagogy promotes strong student engagement in the learning process, which unlocks the learning and creative potential of former school dropouts. The paper argues that the pedagogy achieves this goal because it utilizes principles of culturally responsive social, creative and emotional learning to promote student agency in learning.

This paper presents evidence on literacy trajectories for children in Ghana who enrolled in a Complementary Basic Education programme taught in mother tongue and transitioned into government schools. At the point of transition, we find that children who enrolled in government schools where the language of instruction differed from instruction in their mother tongue did not perform as well in literacy. After a year in government schools, those taught in another local language caught up. By contrast, those who transitioned into English did not. Our evidence reinforces the benefits of mother tongue and local language instruction for progress in literacy.

This study examines the link between initial school performance on subsequent learning for marginalised children in the Complementary Basic Education programme in Northern Ghana. Specifically, we focus on whether initial low performance of girls and boys differentially affects learning trajectories. Drawing on longitudinal data, we find a significant association between initial and subsequent low performance as students transit into formal education, even after taking account of other potential factors. Boys are more likely than girls to improve from low attainment as they move into formal school. As such, girls are at particular risk of maintaining low levels of learning, and therefore warrant greater support within both complementary and mainstream schooling contexts.

There is limited comparable and robust research on the effect of children's work on learning for developing countries. We use matching techniques relying on rich information from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) for 15 Latin American countries and a bounding approach to account for unobservables. We find that work leads to 9 (math) and 13 (reading) points less in achievement for sixth grade students, with a significant variation within the learning distribution and between countries. Policies should prioritise low achievers, those in paid employment living in large urban areas, and factors driving work allocations within families.

Background.
Age of marriage is a barrier to mother’s health care around pregnancy and children health outcomes. Objective. We provide evidence on the health benefits of postponing early marriage among young wives (from age 10-14 to age 15-17) on women’s health care and children’s health for Saharan Africa (SSA) and South West Asia (SWA).

Methods.
We use data for 39 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) to estimate the effects of postponing early marriage for women’s health care and children’s health outcomes and immunisation using matching techniques. We also assess if women's health empowerment and health constraints are additional barriers.

Findings.
We found that in SSA, delaying the age of marriage from age 10-14 to age 15-17 and from age 15-17 to age 18 or above leads to an increase of maternal neotetanus vaccinations of 2.4% and 3.2% respectively, while gains on the likelihood of postnatal checks is larger for delaying marriage among the youngest wives (age 10- 14). In SWA, the number of antenatal visits increases by 34%, while the likelihood of having a skilled birth attendant goes up to 4.1% if young wives postpone marriage. In SSA, the probability of children receiving basic vaccinations is twice as large and their neonatal mortality reduction is nearly double if their mothers had married between age 15-17 instead of at age 10-14. The extent of these benefits is also shaped by supply constraints and cultural factors. For instance, we found that weak bargaining power on health decisions for young wives leads to 11% (SWA) fewer antenatal visits and 13% less chances (SSA) of attending postnatal checks.

Conclusion.
Delaying age of marriage among young wives can lead to considerable gains in health care utilisation and children health in SSA and SWA if supported by policies that lessen supply constraints and raise women's health empowerment.

This chapter draws from existing literature, analysis of school policy texts and codes of discipline, to examine the context and history of school social control in sub-Saharan Africa using some evidence from Ghana. It highlights how school hierarchies, institutional surveillance mechanisms, and the code of discipline produce school social control in the sub-Saharan Africa context. It discusses school hierarchical organization as a mechanism for control based on a case study in Ghana. The discussion examines how teachers’ own schooling and training experiences make them agents of school social control and how corporal punishment plays a key role concluding with the role that foreign languages play in controlling access to further education and future social and economic opportunities.

Teacher education in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has been criticized for the lack of attention to learning to teach in real classrooms, which limits the opportunity for pre-service teachers to successfully introduce learner-centered pedagogy in African primary school classrooms. To address this problem, Ghana has implemented a teacher education reform since 2004 to incorporate practicum. However, the critical role of teacher educators has been overlooked by policymakers, and few studies have qualitatively investigated their practice and vision. The study draws on qualitative data from the Ghana component of the Teacher Preparation in Africa (TPA) research project to explore eight teacher educators’ practice and vision of good teaching of primary mathematics. The study found that teacher educators’ practice and vision of good teaching consist of the use of teaching and learning materials (TLMs) and small group activities following specific steps without understanding the principles of learner-centered pedagogy that could be applied in a variety of classroom contexts and mathematics topics. The study also identified the hierarchical relationship between teacher educators and school teachers as a major challenge for effective practicum, limiting the opportunity to transform teacher educators’ vision and practice of primary mathematics teaching. Recommendations for enhancing professional learning opportunities for teacher educators are offered.

We examine the impact of bullying on learning and non-cognitive outcomes for sixth grade students in 15 Latin America countries using data from the Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE) learning survey. We apply OLS and propensity score matching to attenuate the impact of confounding factors. Matching results show that students being bullied achieve between 9.6 and 18.4 points less in math than their non-bullied peers whilst in reading between 5.8 and 19.4 lower scores, a 0.07-0.22 reduction in the standard deviation of test scores. Thus, substantial learning gains could be accomplished by anti-bullying policies in the region.

This paper analyses the evolution of the effects on educational inequality of early marriage by looking at the impact of whether women had married young on their children's schooling outcomes for 25-32 countries (Demographic and Health Surveys) in 2000 and 2010 for Sub Saharan Africa. We also explore indirect pathways −mother's education, health and empowerment as well as community channels− operating from early marriage to child schooling and assess the presence of negative externalities for non early married mothers and their children on education transmission in communities with large rates of child marriage. In our econometric analysis we employ OLS, matching, instrumental variables and pseudo-panel for a better understanding of changes over time. Our results show that early marriage is still a significant source of inequality, though its impact has decreased across time: girls born to early married mothers are between 6%-11% more likely to never been to school and 1.6%-1.7% to enter late, and 3.3%-5.1% less likely to complete primary school, whereas boys are between 5.2%-8.8% more likely to never been to school and 1%-1.9% to enter late, and 2.3%-5.5% less likely to complete primary school. Second, child marriage increases gender inequality within household’s with girls losing an additional 0.07 years of schooling as compared to boys if born to early married mothers. Third, our estimates show that mother's education and health mediate some of the effect of early marriage and that the large prevalence of child marriage in a community also impairs educational transmission for non-early married mothers. Fourth, empowering of young wives can weaken other channels of transmission of education inequalities. Overall, our findings highlight the need to target these children with the appropriate interventions and support to achieve the greater focus on equity in the global post-2015 education agenda.

In many countries too many children fail to complete a full cycle of basic education. There are also too many children and youth who do not make the progress expected due to various exclusions, some of which are silent. These include over-age entry and progression, poor attendance, low achievement, disability, under-nutrition, HIV/AIDS orphanhood and the impact of migration.

These problems are particularly acute in Africa. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals are intended to shape international development through to 2030. Goal number 4 focuses on education. It sets the goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Progress was made in working towards the earlier Millennium Development Goals. But there’s still a need to accelerate movement towards providing universal access to education worldwide.

Why is this so challenging and why is it so challenging in Africa in particular? The problems are certainly very complex as reflected by the 10 targets associated with the education goal. How we advance further will be one of the main questions to be addressed by almost 200 delegates at an international conference in Ghana.

Major progress has indeed been made towards increasing access to education at all levels and increasing enrolment rates in schools. This is particularly true for women and girls. And basic literacy skills have improved tremendously.

But bolder efforts are necessary to make even greater strides for achieving universal education goals. For example, the world has achieved equality in primary education between girls and boys. But few countries have achieved this target at all levels of education.

This paper examines the effect of age of marriage on women's schooling outcomes for 36 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa and South West Asia. We employ an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of early marriage driven by socio-economic and cultural factors. Our results show that delaying early marriage by one year is associated with an increase of half a year of education in Sub-Saharan Africa and nearly one third of a year of education in South West Asia as well as a lower likelihood of dropping out from secondary school of 5.5% in South West Asia.

Early notions of life skills in Africa did not take into account the importance of a flexible and portable set of skills that would enable youth to adapt to changes in the world of work and lay the foundations for productive well-being and behaviour. Rather, life skills education in many secondary education curricula in Africa started with an emphasis on developing specific technical vocational skills considered essential for employability or self-employment. Using Ghana as an example, this paper shows how secondary education curriculum reformers recommended shifts that embraced a new interpretation of life skills focused on 21st-century skills. This gradual move also reflected the difficulty that secondary education in general has had in networking with the world of work to provide work experience that would lead to the development of work-related skills and enhance employability. The author’s main argument is that although the reconceptualisation of life skills in secondary education to reflect 21st-century skills is a welcome shift in the African context, this needs to be accompanied by reforms in teacher education. Classroom teaching and learning need to be adapted in a fundamental way in order to ensure that youth fully benefit from the inclusion of 21st-century life skills in secondary education curricula. Such reforms must include pedagogical practices which nurture communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking skills.

Low-fee private schooling represents a point of heated debate in the international policy context of Education for All and the Millennium Development Goals. While on the one hand there is an increased push for free and universal access with assumed State responsibility, reports on the mushrooming of private schools targeting socially and economically disadvantaged groups in a range of developing countries, particularly across Africa and Asia, have emerged over the last decade. Low-fee private schooling has, thus, become a provocative and illuminating area of research and policy interest on the impacts of privatisation and its different forms in developing countries.

This edited volume aims to add to the growing literature on low-fee private schooling by presenting seven studies in five countries (Ghana, India, Kenya, Nigeria and Pakistan), and is bookended by chapters analysing some of the evidence and debates on the topic thus far.

The book presents research findings from studies across three levels of analysis that have proven relevant in the study of low-fee private schooling: the household, school and state. Chapters address household schooling choice behaviours regarding low-fee private and competing sectors; the management, operation and relative quality of low-fee private schools; and changes to the regulatory frameworks governing low-fee private schools, and the impact of low-fee private schools on those frameworks.

The book does not seek to provide definitive answers since, as an emerging and evolving area of study, this would be premature. Instead, it aims to call attention to the need for further systematic research on low-fee private schooling, and to open up the debate by presenting studies that use a range of methods and, owing to the context specificity of the issue, draw different conclusions. The hope is that these studies may serve as springboards to further research.

Finally, the book does not aim to snuff out the political and vociferous debate surrounding low-fee private schooling and private provision more broadly, or to erase the complications that abound in conducting research in this area, but to engage with them.

The hope is that as the 2015 target date for Education for All and Millennium Development Goals approaches, this book may help us get closer to answering the question: do low-fee private schools aggravate equity or mitigate disadvantage?

Teacher education has an important role in ensuring quality of learning especially for the poorest children. The article draws on a study of teacher preparation for the early primary grades in six African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda – in reading and mathematics. Initial teacher education had the strongest impact on newly qualified teachers but also induced misplaced confidence leading to standardised teacher-led approaches that failed to engage learners. Learning to read was divorced from meaning while mathematical activities were not linked to learning concepts. We suggest that teacher education is reconstructed as a study of classroom practice that places children's learning at its centre

This paper reports research on the initial teacher training and continuing professional development of teachers in six African countries (Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda). The focus of the research was on the teaching of early reading and mathematics. The curriculum of both these areas was analysed in terms of (i) implementation by providers such as Colleges of Education, and (ii) impact in schools. The study found that there were many and deep gaps in the curriculum taught and consequently in teacher knowledge and skills in these two crucial subject areas. The paper sets out a series of recommendations for addressing this problem including an overall alternative approach to teacher education that emerges from the research findings as a whole

This article reports on an empirical study exploring Ghanaian teachers understandings of teaching, learning and assessment. It argues that received views of poorly trained teachers with untheorized and badly reasoned professional practices may mask a more complex situation. In defining learning, teachers in the study reproduced models consistent with transmission or behaviouristic theories. However, when asked to describe their most successful experiences, teachers understandings were more in accord with social constructivism. Also, their aspiration towards interactive models of classroom assessment was circumscribed by the normal context of assessment discourse and by bureaucratic requirements. The paper concludes that, given the right circumstances, teachers can reflect on their experiences and produce a more sophisticated account of teaching and learning. It suggests ways in which in-service work might be make use of these insights, recommending further attention to the discursive frames of teachers professional reflections within dialogue and active engagement through school-based coaching.

This paper explores the perceptions of three groups of teacher education trainees in Ghana¿those beginning training, those completing training, and those with two years¿ experience in schools. A structured instrument was used to assess responses to statements about the status of teachers and teaching, teacher control, preferences for posting and different aspects of learning and teaching. Some differences were found between the responses of the groups. The direction of these differences was not always consistent with the aspirations of training curricula, suggesting other factors might be influential, and that more attention should be given to establishing what initial teacher training can and cannot achieve.

This review focuses on literature from Sub-Sahara Africa and South Asia and develops thematic concerns in relation to local governance, community participation, and school processes and seeks to inter-relate these within a conceptual model that highlights their independence. The review identifies gaps in the research on teacher management, school governance, decentralisation, processes of exclusion, characteristics of vulnerable communities, and progression through schooling. It invites research concerned with improved access to build on what is known and translate this to different contexts and concerns of stakeholders at local levels

Education policy and practice has historically been developed within the national/regional context. However, globalization has prompted educationalists to review their practice in the light of international influences. World issues such as global warming, conflict and the depletion of earth resources have also contributed to an increased awareness of the role that education can play in resolving these problems.

In 1987, the government of Ghana embarked on a process to decentralise education management to districts as part of wider social and democratic governance reforms. A central part of this reform was the prescription of active community participation in the affairs of schools within their locality. This paper explores the different meanings community participation had for school community stakeholders. It examines the multiple understandings of how community and school relations work and the factors which influence this relationship. Drawing on case study data, it argues that much of the theoretical and policy expectations on representation and participation in education by community members are only evident in form, but not as intended in practice. In poor rural contexts, it is often the local elite and relatively more educated members of the community, who become the new brokers of decision-making and, through their actions, close up the spaces for representation and participation by community members in the affairs of schools. Furthermore, the extent of community participation appears to be shaped by a 'social contract' based on the principle of reciprocity of roles between the community and schools, and that increasingly teachers feel accountable to the traditional hierarchical educational structure, and not to the community. The paper argues that the realisation of decentralisation policy in education has to contend with the realities of local politics of influence in the community, and tap into the positive side of this influence to improve education service delivery

When Ghana became independent in 1957 it had one of the most developed education systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the next forty years its education system expanded to provide places for most, but not all, of its children. Since the education reforms of the late 1980s enrolments have grown steadily; this contrasts with some SSA countries with universal free primary education policies, which have experienced short periods of rapid growth. Education reforms in Ghana, however, have fallen below expectations. The Free and Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme introduced in 1995 promised universal education by 2005. This paper revisits Ghana's FCUBE policy for clues as to why it did not achieve the target goal and especially why poorest households seem to have benefited least from it. One disappointment with FCUBE is that its input did not go far enough to offset the opportunity costs of schooling for the poorest households by abolishing all forms of fees and reducing significantly the indirect costs associated with attending school. The incidence of late entry, overage attendance and poor households' need for child labour also posed a further threat to the benefits FCUBE promised. 2009 Taylor & Francis.

This book is based on research which explored teacher motivation and incentive issues in 12 countries in South Asia and Sub-Sahara Africa. The book addresses four main questions: (1) To what extent is there a problem of poor motivation among teachers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia? Does this amount to a 'crisis', as has been suggested by some observers? (2) If so, what are the main reasons for poor teacher motivation? (3) How do poor motivation and incentives affect teacher performance and the overall effectiveness of national education systems? and finally (4) What should be done to ensure that teachers are adequately motivated? Based on the evidence from the research, the authors argue for better incentives for rural teachers and that unless this is done, the large majority of children who live in rural areas will continue to receive poor quality education. Also, despite some improvements in pay in recent years in some countries, most primary school teachers, particularly in relatively high-cost urban centres are simply unable to meet their basic household needs. It argues for attractive career structures for primary school teachers and improvements in teacher accountability to school management and to parents and the community.

Growing private-sector participation in basic education service delivery in many developing countries has led to calls for greater partnership arrangements with the public sector to improve access for poor and disadvantaged groups. In Ghana there is some interest in forging closer public-private partnerships to improve access for children who have been out of mainstream education or have difficulty accessing public schools. By examining three examples of non-state provision that have had links with the public sector to improve access, this paper evaluates the impact of such partnerships to draw lessons for policy and practice. An important conclusion the paper draws is that for public-private partnerships that serve the needs of disadvantaged groups to work, it is important that they take into account both the diversity and context-specific educational access needs of the groups concerned

Teacher education programmes are often quite similar in their framework and content but often lack sufficient reflection on the personal background and the socio-political forces that shape teachers¿ roles and identity within the systems in which they operate. This paper explores this issue by using Ghana as a case study and discusses implications for its teacher education programmes and policies. Key characteristics of beginning student teachers found were: weak qualifying grades in two fundamental school subjects, mathematics and English, a waiting period of 2¿5 years prior to entering teachers¿ college, and apparently sharp differentials in trainees¿ socio-economic background as compared to typical Ghanaian communities. They come to training with rich and varied images of teachers, teaching and the profession, but, in addition, many beginning trainees also express little desire to teach at primary school level, mainly for reasons of status and insufficient fringe benefits. These factors, we argue, should be taken into more account in the design of college programmes and the development of teacher education policies. The paper concludes with a call to teacher education systems, especially in Africa, to look more closely at, and learn from, who comes for training, what they bring with them, and how they perceive themselves in relation to teaching, training and future aspirations.

Achieving Education for All (EFA) in Ghana and many parts of sub-Saharan Africa remains an elusive goal. Extensive research in diverse countries has revealed that formalized systems that work on fixed timetables, a loaded curriculum, and trained teachers, are often not performing as well in rural environments in providing basic literacy, numeracy, and other skills/competencies relevant to the local environment. Although Ghana has developed a variety of programs to help with EFA goals, EFA objectives and Ghana poverty reduction strategy suggest that reaching children in rural deprived areas demands more innovative approaches because of the harsh environment. Ghana's efforts to attain Education for All in the coming 5-10 years largely depend on their commitment to supporting educational services for 50% of the children currently out of school in northern Ghana. It depends on the policymaker's ability to look beneath the realities of formal education systems and understand the context in which learning takes place in deprived rural areas. Complementary education approaches are proving not only to be effective but essential in assisting children, who otherwise would not be reached by the formal system, escape the cycle of illiteracy and secure a better future. Following an executive summary, the report contains five sections: (1) "The Challenge"; (2) "Research Design"; (3) "Preliminary Findings of International Study"; (4) "Preliminary Findings of Ghana Study"; and (5) "The Way Forward and Key Recommendations." Annexes include field study research questions; research activities; a list of non-governmental organizations implementing literacy programs; a list of civil society organizations; and impact level indicators. (Contains 30 notes, 14 tables, and 92 references.) (BT)

This contribution reviews the introduction of old and new information communication technologies in Ghanaian education. It points out how the recent proliferation of multi-media technologies in the country has ultimately encouraged the introduction of ICTs in education. However, the author argues that much of the move to introduce these new technologies into schools and colleges has not reflected the need to re-conceptualise teacher education curriculum practices to base its foundations on constructivist ideas about knowledge and its production. Without this, reforms to introduce new information communication technologies in classrooms risk becoming tools that are again used to reinforce old traditions of teaching and learning based on uncritical transmission of knowledge. Finally, the author argues that changes to the teacher education curriculum in Ghana, and elsewhere in Africa, should also reflect the new professional learning identities and learning experiences that ICT and other media communication tools are meant to foster in the classroom.

In 2007 Ghana celebrated 50 years of independence from British colonial rule. The golden jubilee offered an opportunity to take stock of how the country had progressed in expanding education and the challenges for the future. This paper offers a critique of the journey, highlighting the challenges and progress. What reforms in education has taught Ghana is that it is much easier to fix the ‘hardware’ than the ‘software’ problems of education. With huge investments from internal and external sources structural and infrastructural problems of education can be fixed. With expanded facilities access can improve. However, completion rates remain the problem, especially at junior and senior secondary where low completion rates deprive the country of much needed educated youth prepared for work and for further education and training. TVET development plans faces the challenge of ensuring that sustainable capital and recurrent investment is available to improve infrastructural facilities and thereby improve the quality of products. Fifty years after independence, although Ghana has made good progress in expanding education provision, it is still faced with the problem of securing an education system that delivers on quality and provides equitable access for all, especially the poor and disadvantaged. Until and unless significant gains are made here, the goal of producing a workforce with the knowledge and skills for development would be hard to achieve. This is the task for the next fifty years.

This review of educational development in Ghana has been developed to explore key issues in access to education, capture recent research, and to identify gaps in knowledge and understanding. This critical analytic review provides the basis for research which seeks to identify children who are excluded from basic education, establish the causes of their exclusion, and identify ways of ensuring that all children comnplete a full cycle of basic education successfully.

Northern Ghana presents an interesting case of the limitations of the conventional school system in reaching underserved and deprived populations with basic education. Due to the peculiar nature of its demographic characteristics and the socio-economic challenges that confront this area of Ghana, conventional school systems are unable to thrive and make an impact in remote areas. Many of these communities are sparsely populated and scattered making distance a hindrance to school. attendance. A major barrier to access and participation is also the cost. In poor deprived communities whether or not children attend school usually depends on the direct or indirect costs to families. Direct costs arises from schooling accessories such as uniforms, books and writing materials whilst the indirect costs are largely in the form of income lost from the child’s potential employment or contribution to household income through direct labor. Yet another obstacle is the official school calendar which usually conflicts with families’ economic activities to which the child is a crucial contributor. A growing number of NGOs and civil society organizations are introducing basic education initiatives that have been adjusted to reflect these demographic and socio-economic realities. Many of the NGOs try to promote the spirit of self-help efforts among poor rural people using strategies that encourage community participation and ownership of the basic education initiative. This paper describes and analyses the effort of one such NGO education programme known as the “School for Life” (SFL) in Northern Ghana. The paper examines the extent to which the activities of this organization are actually promoting self-help efforts in sustaining an aid initiated basic education programme. The acid test for aid effectiveness is what happens when it phases out - in that case is the initiative sustainable? The paper argues that for true sustainability to be achieved there is the need for a concerted working relationship between the aid programme provider and local government institutions because of the potential benefits that this relationship can bring in sustaining the programme once external support ends. Finally, using the SFL programme as an example, it argues that the key to promoting greater participation and commitment among rural communities towards basic education, is by showing that it can actually open up access to higher levels of education without conflicting with the socio-cultural and economic activities of the society.