In their pledge to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, countries across the globe have turned their attention to improving quality education, which includes student learning assessments. For many countries, implementing learning assessments is crucial to monitoring educational outcomes by providing data for education policies and…

Providing professional development (PD) for Papua New Guinea (PNG) teachers is highly challenging due to the remoteness of schools, limited budgets, travel costs, and safety. The essential follow-up guidance and support after PD workshops is rarely possible, especially for the majority of teachers, who work in rural schools. In addition, the…

Progressive Education, derived mainly from Anglo-American culture, has been the primary frame of reference for student-centered classroom change in developing countries for over 50 years. Yet in many developing countries, strong evidence shows that progressivism has not replaced teacher-centered formalistic classroom practice. "Classroom…

The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) supports close to 70 developing countries to ensure that every child receives a quality education. The featured stories in this report show the progress that developing country partners are making in getting more children, especially girls, in school and learning. The results are not only evidence of…

Since the early 1970s there has been increasing interest in effective adult education systems and practices as a core foundation for capacity building in developing countries. This paper presents the philosophy behind the concept of an "intercultural learning space" and argues its relevance for such adult learners. Drawing on work in…

This report was commissioned by the Global Partnership for Education's Secretariat to take stock of how disability and inclusive education are in included in education sector plans (ESPs) in 51 countries, including GPE-funded programs, such as education sector program implementation grants (ESPIGs), program documents (PADs), implementation…

Today's educators stand at the crossroads of globalization and technology. The world is rapidly shrinking. The workplace is being transformed before our very eyes. Technology is forever changing the way we perceive reality and the way we do business. Educators are required to equip students for a workplace that has yet to emerge. The skill sets of…

Every child has the right to health, education and protection, and every society has a stake in expanding children's opportunities in life. Yet, around the world, millions of children are denied a fair chance for no reason other than the country, gender or circumstances into which they are born. The "State of the World's Children 2016"…

The introduction of national qualification frameworks (NQFs), including frameworks specifically for the vocational sector (NVQFs), are policy initiatives that have far reaching implications for the management and delivery of education and training. Despite the caution called for by researchers and the challenging reality of implementation in both…

Qualitative researchers are often confronted by ethical challenges when making research decisions because current guidelines and principles guiding research ethics do not wholly cover the concerns that can arise in complex social research situations. In this article, the authors explore this dilemma in relation to our experiences of conducting…

Over the last decade, Papua New Guinea (PNG) has pursued educational reform in elementary teacher education. Because elementary teachers and teacher education are central to the reform agenda, there is a need to gain empirical evidence about how PNG teacher trainers' understandings about learning and teaching impact on their practice. The study…

This publication presents an overview of the Asia-Pacific Regional Planning Meeting on the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE). Countries in Asia and the Pacific that participate in the LIFE initiative are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan and Papua New Guinea. The purpose of the meeting was to assist…

There is debate about whether the rate of return to education in developing countries declines with the level of schooling. This paper reports evidence from urban Papua New Guinea which shows that the average private rate of return to an additional year of education rises with the level of education considered. This pattern is robust to the…

This yearlong ethnographic study of principals' leadership in Papua New Guinea high schools describes influences of imposing a bureaucratic school organization on principals' decision making in a communal society. Communal values of kinship relationships, "wantok" system, and "big men" leadership challenged principals'…

In this article, the author starts by introducing three women from the Pacific whose lives illustrate the main points she addresses. She then discusses why place and gender matter in issues concerning the environment. Lastly, she touches on the implications of gender on environmental education.