Primary education in Sierra Leone and development partnership with Britain :progress towards achieving Education for All (EFA)

One of the world's poorest countries, Sierra Leone, experienced a civil war from 1991\ud to 2002. The government has since been in the process of rebuilding the nation,\ud including the education sector. Yet, the challenge is that Sierra Leone is a very poor\ud country with about half of its national budget being donor-funded. Sierra Leone's\ud former colonial master and largest aid provider, Britain, is a particularly important\ud development partner. With donor assistance, the government introduced a free primary\ud education policy to achieve the international goal of EFA. The net primary enrolment\ud ratio has rapidly increased, from 35 per cent in 1992 to 63.0 per cent in 2004. However,\ud field research based on school observations, interviews with government officials,\ud teachers and people engaged in Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) such as\ud Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Faith-based Organisations (FBOs), and\ud questionnaires from pupils, parents, teachers, NGOs and government officials, reveals\ud worrying trade-offs in the quality of education provided. In addition, schools charge\ud parents "school fees" to run their schools under the free education policy. This is one\ud of the barriers to regular schooling for the vulnerable. Such findings show that the\ud government lacks the ability to provide adequate public services to the people. CSOs\ud have filled this democratic deficit and greatly contributed to the provision of education.\ud However, an investigation of donor-recipient relationships in this area showed that\ud there is a gap between the rhetoric and practice of "partnership" and "ownership" in\ud the development relationship. Using three development theories — Modernisation\ud theory, Dependency theory and Postcolonial theory to analyse aid modality and trends\ud in education plans and strategies, this research argues that Sierra Leone has been in\ud transition with regard to establishing ownership of its national development, working\ud with Britain as its main partner

Preliminary Analysis of Challenges and Improvement Practices in Ghanaian Junior High Schools : A Comparative Study of High-and Low-performing Schools

本稿はガーナの前期中等教育における公正なアクセスと教育の質を脅かす要因及び改善実践の取り組みを、基礎教育修了資格試験の成績上位校と下位校との比較による共通項と差異に着目し纏めたものである。ガーナは、より効果的、かつ効率的な教育サービスの提供と学校運営を促進し、質を伴った教育を提供するために、地方の教育行政機関への権限移譲、学校の裁量権の拡大、地域社会との連携を強化するなど地方分権化政策を進めている。教員を対象とした質問票から得た結果から、学校助成金の遅滞や不足により地方分権化がもたらす学校管理運営の裁量の拡大といったメリットが活かしがたい現状、また成績下位校は上位校よりも家庭の経済状況が子どもの教育に及ぼす影響を強く受けていること、成績上位校の生徒はより高い学習意欲と姿勢を有していることが明らかになった。また、成績上位校、下位校ともに取り組んでいる様々な学校改善実践や工夫を挙げ、他の学校に適用可能な「グッド・プラクティス（優れた実践）」を探っている。This paper examines obstacles to students’ regular schooling and quality education in Ghanaian junior high schools, as well as their countermeasures, by investigating similarities and differences in perspectives on education barriers and good practices at high- and low- performing schools. Ghana has promoted the decentralization of education, in the expectation that education management and systems for providing quality education become equitable, affordable, and accountable. One way to realize such benefits is to empower schools by devising and implementing school performance improvement plans using capitation grants. As shown in questionnaire responses, research outcomes reveal that delayed and insufficient capitation grants prevent schools from using the benefit of expanded decision making by school management that decentralization has sought to effect. This paper, moreover, illustrates that the household economy of students at low-performing schools exerts greater impact on their learning outcomes than that of their peers at high-performing schools, who demonstrate more motivation to learn, pose questions to teachers, and spend more time on exam preparation than students at low-performing schools. Exploring learning improvement practices attempted at schools, including awarding high-performing students and having female role models to encourage female education, this paper also suggests that identifying and sharing these good practices can prompt progress in students’ regular schooling and learning.本研究は、科学研究費補助金（平成25-28年度　基盤研究（B）（一般））「途上国の前期中等教育における学校改善実践に関する国際比較研究」（研究代表者：吉田和浩）の成果の一部である

Access to Primary Education in Sierra Leone: the perceived gap between policy and practice, and the role of religious affiliation and British aid

This research paper is based on my PhD pilot study, in which I examined issues of access to primary education in Sierra Leone and its partnership with Britain. Prior to the fieldwork, I piloted a questionnaire with parents aiming to investigate the difficulties which underlie regular access to schooling in Sierra Leone. In the country, religious affiliation crucially informs patterns of education provision. I hypothesised that religion had a strong connection to how education was perceived and accessed in Sierra Leone. This short article presents the results of the pilot study and focuses on two issues: 1) parents’ perception of the role and influence of main stream religions in the country, Christianity and Islam, and 2) whether British aid is viewed as having played a significant role in alleviating the financial burdens and therefore widening access and participation in education

Parents’ Attitudes towards Children’s Improvement of Learning Outcomes and their Expectations of Extra Classes: A Case Study in Junior High Schools in Ghana

This paper examines the feasibility of introducing extra-curricular classes in low-performing junior high schools in a deprived area of Ghana as a way to improve learning outcomes. In Ghana, many students who attend school do not achieve learning outcomes, and the quality of education needs to be improved. Additional extra classes, as have been implemented in various countries in order to improve student’s academic performance, have their own roles and demands, such as reinforcing the understanding of students who are not progressing well in regular classes, and solving the problem if teachers being unable to complete syllabi in regular classes. A questionnaire survey of parents who send their children to low-performing schools in the area revealed most parents had an understanding of and interest in their children’s education, and 90 % of them agreed with the significance and introduction of extra classes as a way to enhance their children’s learning outcomes and their futures. The results of the study suggest that ample room exists for introducing extra classes in the area studied. However, the results also clarify that parents are already making sacrifices in their daily lives to afford the cost of sending their children to school, and that multiple other factors threaten the quality of education and, in turn, affect children’s learning outcomes. This paper, therefore, suggest that the quality of education needs to be improved by using School Performance Improvement Plan to enhance the learning environment and teachers’ effectiveness, including teaching skills, professional characteristics and classroom climate.本研究は、科学研究費補助金（2018 ～2021 年度基盤研究（A））「途上国の前期中等教育開発における政策 - 実践連携に関する国際比較研究」（研究代表者：吉田和浩）の成果の一部である。また本研究はケープコースト大学教育学研究科教育研究評価センターの Dr. Christpher Yaw Kwaah と行った共同研究である

How Can Children with Disabilities be Included in School Education? : A Case in Sierra Leone <Special Issue : Right to Education>

Based on the author's field research, this paper reviews the current status of education for Children with Disabilities (CWD) in Sierra Leone and examines the obstacles to their learning in school and where they should be educated. Committed to achieving Universal Primary Education (UPE), Sierra Leone has enacted policy reforms. However, the government’s effort in education for CWD was untouched until very recently. This study fi nds that education for CWD has moved forward in the direction of favoring that these children should receive education in mainstream schools. Arguing that policy reforms should be swiftly reflected at a practical level, tackling challenges in finance, teacher guidance, accessibility to and within school, and discriminatory attitudes of family and community toward CWD, this paper contends that these processes need to involve various actors working together for social learning and transformation toward building an inclusive society

Problems behind Education for All (EFA): The Case of Sierra Leone

This paper discusses Sierra Leone’s commitment to EFA and the possibility of unintended consequences if its success is measured only by results showing quantitative gains while downplaying the decline in the quality of the education offered. Equal access to quality education is an integral part of EFA. With donors’ assistance, the government has made a strong commitment to achieve the international goal of EFA. A free primary education policy introduced in 2000 has led to rapid progress in terms of access to schooling. However, fieldwork research based on observation of schools, interviews with teachers, and questionnaires from pupils, parents and teachers in 27 schools in five towns, shows that the quality of the education provided has been compromised due to the rapid increase in the number of enrolled children; a high teacher-pupil ratio, a shortage of teaching and learning materials, school buildings and furniture, and low motivation on the part of teachers are quite common. This paper also argues for the role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in supplementing government efforts to expand educational access of acceptable quality, especially when the government’s capacity to deliver education is weak