The Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society is now running in its thirteenth year. From its modest beginnings thirteen years ago, to its impressive size today, a tradition has been the production of a conference book, consistently launched on the first day of the conference each year. This year, Volume 13 of…

A South African educator describes the outcomes of a 3-day inservice course on a school's attempts to provide enrichment for academically gifted 6-9 year olds. (CL)

Discusses theoretical ways in which science-teacher inservices and training could be phased through time for maximum effect. Criticizes existing theories in light of the experience of the Primary Science Program in South Africa and proposes a synthesis model for inservice phasing. Contains 31 references. (Author/WRM)

A large-scale, school-based inservice project was mounted to improve the language skills of elementary school teachers in Soweto, South Africa, who were to begin using English as the language of instruction. Methods used to train the teachers, teachers' attitudes toward the project, and the project's effects on children are discussed. (PP)

Traces the lifecycle of the Primary Science Programme (PSP), 1983-99, a representative South African nongovernmental organization. Shows how the social and economic environment shaped PSP development and demise. Highlights tensions between quality versus quantity, subject versus holistic focus, and participatory versus authoritarian management…

Describes the work of PETRA (Primary Teaching in Rural Areas), an aid-funded project that was set up to improve the standards of English language teaching in black primary schools in rural areas in South Africa. Focuses on the first phase of the project, during which teachers attended an inservice training course leading to an externally-validated…

This book is a compilation of papers presented at a seminar on cognitive development in South Africa and one additional paper. The papers were intended to stimulate research and stress the need for program evaluations. Papers concerned: (1) an initiative to improve black primary school teachers' English language, thinking, and teaching skills, and…