Education and development: the issues and the evidence

Abstract

The material for this review was first gathered as part of a report \"Dialogue for Development; A Policy Review of British Educational Aid Towards 2000\" which was submitted to the Overseas Development Administration in mid 1992. Those parts of the work which discuss general issues in education and development and collate recent research findings are presented here so that the work may reach a wider audience.

This review falls into two main sections. The first part identifies key dimensions of the policy debate that will condition future patterns of investment in education. The themes chosen are the impact of recession, the effects of debt and structural adjustment programmes on the resources available for education; the implications of demographic trends in developing countries; technological change and changing patterns of employment and livelihoods; the continued degradation of the global environment, the new priorities attached to human rights and good government; and the importance of gender issues in education and development.

The second part provides an up to date culling of the research literature relating to seven specific fields. These are education and economic development issues; school effectiveness and student achievement; technical and vocational education; the balance of investment between educational levels; private educational expenditure and cost recovery programmes; organisational reforms, assessment practices and alternative delivery strategies; and literacy programmes.

Citation

Educational Paper No. 6, DFID, London, UK, ISBN 0 902500 66 X, 61 pp. [reprinted 1997]

Education and development: the issues and the evidence

Published 1 January 1993