The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. Since it was established in 1930, ACER has built a strong reputation as a provider of reliable support and expertise to education policymakers and professional practitioners. Each year, ACER is involved in a large number of research…

The World Bank's focus on foundational skills requires that issues of language and Language of Instruction be brought to the forefront of education policy discussions. Poor Language of Instruction policies harm learning, access, equity, cost-effectiveness, and inclusion. Yet nearly 37% of students in low- and middle-income countries are taught in…

Over the past ten years the PISA assessment has risen to strategic prominence in the international education policy discourse. Sponsored, organized and administered by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), PISA seems well on its way to being institutionalized as the main engine in the global accountability regime. The…

This article discusses a meeting of education research associations from around the world which achieved a major goal toward establishing a World Education Research Association (WERA) in Singapore on November 24-25, 2008. At the meeting, representatives reaffirmed a commitment to establish WERA and finalized several key documents for its…

This paper and the four commissioned works on which it is based are guided by the important question: How can we start valuing practices and outcomes of teaching and learning that are difficult to reduce to numbers? As the process of developing indicators for the Post-2015 education targets unfolds, some of the targets are at risk of being dropped…

The purpose of this paper is to review recent developments related to the development of indicators of educational progress in the context of the Post 2015 deliberations to generate a new international architecture for educational investment through to 2030. There have been a plethora of suggestions and several parallel consultation processes…

This report reviews the conceptual debates and existing data sources that relate to three ambiguous and controversial targets included in the post-2015 education framework: Relevant Learning Outcomes; Knowledge, Skills, Values, and Attitudes (for education for global citizenship and sustainable development); and Teachers and Safe, Inclusive, and…

For millions of children worldwide the only type of schooling to which they will gain access will be in small schools. Economically and socially disadvantaged areas support disproportionate numbers of these schools. Although small schools have many advantages, they also face myriad problems. This policy brief explores the existing international…

Public-private partnerships in education exist in various forms around the world, in both developed and developing countries. Despite this, and despite the importance of human capital for economic growth, systematic analysis has been limited and scattered, with most scholarly attention going to initiatives in the United States. This volume helps…

Probes educational problems and needs in the developing nations of Asia. The major problems are overpopulation, poor educational facilities in rural areas, insufficient financial resources, inappropriate educational models and objectives, and unrealistically high expectations. More recent educational models stress equalizing educational access and…

This report documents the progress made in developing and developed nations to improve health, nutrition, education, family planning, and the condition of women over the last 40 years. It presents tables that rank the world's nations and regions on: (1) the mortality rate of children under 5 years of age; (2) the percent of children under 5 years…

Contrary to most previous research findings concerning influences on pupil achievement, data from Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East show that the predominant influence on student learning is the quality of the schools and the teachers to which children are exposed. (RM)

A study of women in migration in Third World countries since 1960 reveals that, contrary to assumptions, more women are migrating autonomously from rural to urban areas in an often unsuccessful effort to improve their economic status. The results of the study of migration patterns in Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the Middle…

Contributions to this book were prepared by specialists on Asian education. They explore curricular and classroom processes for basic education, new developments in secondary education, innovations in private education, linkages of education and society, and systemic issues in Asian education, considered for their implications for education in the…

The assumption of a causal relationship between more schooling and lower fertility for women has led many governments to support women's education. However, understanding the nature and strength of the relationship between education and fertility remains a central challenge for scholars seeking to explain demographic and social change and for…