A national qualifications framework (NQF) is an instrument used to classify a country's qualifications at different levels. Each level is defined by a set of learning outcomes expected at that level. NQFs can be useful tools in education and training reforms and are vital reference points for lifelong learning and comparing qualifications across…

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) launched the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (2006-2015)--LIFE--to tackle the literacy challenge. This is a collaborative effort to accelerate literacy efforts in thirty five of the world's most challenged countries and thereby to unlock progress to reach all of the…

Argues that the present crisis of basic education for young people in Africa reveals problems that are more fundamental than enrollments, inputs, and costs. Maintains that non-conventional approaches to learning, associated with non-formal and distance education, have important but distinct contributions to make to the reform of mainstream…

Education policy in sub-Saharan Africa is predicated on human capital assumptions and therefore promotes the expansion of formal education as a way to promote economic growth. As a result, formal education is valued primarily as a private consumer good, a form of cultural capital that allows some to get ahead and stay ahead, rather than as a…

While the implementation of adult literacy promotion can best be handled at the national level, some important things can be done at the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC) level. A persuasive argument can be made on behalf of adult literacy in the SADCC development strategy. The people need to be educated in the…

In 1976 African Ministers of Education proposed "basic education," defined as minimum learning needs, as the best method for mass education. Participation and integration are key elements in this strategy. A learning-needs approach to curriculum planning should concentrate on practical skills; implementation requires nontraditional…

Recent studies conducted in developing nations throughout the world have made it possible to formulate a political theory of literacy for development that clarifies relationships between development ideologies and literacy policies and thus provides a greater understanding of the choices and decisions made by policymakers and planners. Depending…

This bibliography on recurrent education contains annotations of 307 publications printed for the most part during 1973-78. (Recurrent education refers to "a global system containing a variety of programs which distribute education and training at different levels, by formal and nonformal means, over the life-span of the individual in a…

The following papers are included: "Editorial" (Heribert Hinzen); "Skills and Literacy Training for Better Livelihoods: A Review of Approaches and Experiences" (John Oxenham, Abdoul Hamid Diallo, Anne Ruhweza Katahoire, Anna Petkova-Mwangi, Oumar Sall); "'Learning to Read Woke Me Up!': Motivations, and Constraints, in…

This document is a comprehensive report a subregional seminar for eastern and southern African countries on the Jua Kali movement. (Jua Kali, "hot sun" in Swahili, refers to the informal or nonformal sector of the economy.) Section 1 explains the role of the International Project on Technical and Vocational Education (UNEVOC) in the…

This document contains information about and papers from meetings of educational practitioners and policymakers in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and the Arab States and a collective consultation of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) on literacy and education for all. Contents (arranged by region) are…

This document profiles 10 successful experiences in nonformal education (NFE) programs across Africa. Common features of the programs profiled are as follows: (1) provide educational opportunities for those who have missed out on formal education; (2) show evidence of learners' acquisition of competencies for work and survival; (3) demonstrate…

This document contains 21 papers examining the state of adult and continuing education in Africa. The following papers are included: "Introduction: An Overview of the State of Adult and Continuing Education in Africa" (Akpovire Oduaran); "Setting the Tone of Adult and Continuing Education in Africa" (Michael A. Omolewa);…

These volumes contain 40 papers examining the principles, policies, structure, and practice of lifelong learning worldwide. The following are among the papers included: "Towards a Philosophy of Lifelong Learning" (David Aspin, Judith Chapman); "Locating Lifelong Learning and Education in Contemporary Currents of Thought and…