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There is increasing support for the importance of the principal′s instructional leadership in school effectiveness. However, there is uncertainty over the extent to which principals actually engage in instructional leadership tasks. Investigates the perceptions held by principals and teachers of principals′ instructional leadership in a sample of Western Australian government primary and secondary schools using the Instructional Leadership Questionnaire. Instructional leadership was found to be a shared responsibility. Principals were perceived to be least involved in “managing the curriculum” and “evaluating and providing feedback”. Primary school principals were perceived to be more responsible for instructional leadership than their secondary counterparts. Principals of very small primary schools (less than 100 students) were most involved in tasks and those of middlesized primary schools (300 to 500 students) were least involved. “Providing rewards and recognition for high quality teaching” was the only instructional leadership task perceived not to be performed by either principals or teachers in both primary and secondary schools. Principals perceived themselves to be more involved in instructional leadership tasks than their staff perceived them to be.

This study analysed students’ perceptions of teachers’ behaviours, teachers’ management practices and the use of inputs by teachers and whether these are associated with primary school progression and completion.

School-level fixed effect analysis is conducted using cross-sectional data collected from 4,000 randomly selected primary school-aged students and their schools.

Our findings reveal that students’ perceptions of teachers’ behaviours are associated with the probability of grade progression during primary school, and whether students complete primary school. Particularly important are positive behaviours, like students perceiving their teachers to be engaged and being praised by their teachers while in primary schools. It increased the likelihood of school progression by at least 15%. The use of inputs such as worksheets/written handouts and reading stories/books in the language of instruction were also found to have a statistically significant positive effect on students’ primary school performance. These are important results which hold after accounting for school management, household and child-level factors and regional differences.

Our findings provide a deeper understanding of the teaching practices which pupils perceive as beneficial to retention. While we are unable to conclude that learning is taking place, our contention is that greater time in school could increase the opportunity to learn. In this respect, beyond its policy relevance in improving educational outcomes, the paper contributes to the limited literature on the student–teacher classroom relationships particularly when looking from the perspective of students’ perception of their teachers’ teaching behaviours in developing countries.

This study assessed the effectiveness of malaria classroom corner (MCC), school-based intervention in the promotion of basic malaria awareness and common control practices among children of primary school age.

A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving 206 children of primary 5 and 6 classes from two randomly selected public primary schools in Owerri, South Eastern Nigeria. The MCC was designed and set up in the intervention school (with 103 children) while the control school (with 103 children) was offered malaria health talk. Structured pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data pre- and post-intervention in both schools. Data was analysed using Statistical Package – Stata version 14.1 (Stata Corp, College Station, TX, USA).

Results show that there was a significant enhancement of basic malaria awareness (p = 0.0003) and common preventive and management practices (p = 0.0202) among children in the intervention primary school compared to those in the control primary school.

The study did not account for actual behaviour change, as its scope was within basic malaria awareness and common control practices.

This approach could enhance awareness and proactiveness of school children towards malaria prevention and overall health consciousness.

This could help in achieving a healthy population of school children with a positive effect on their school performance.

The MCC could provide a simple, participatory and effective approach for the promotion of basic malaria awareness and common control practices among primary school-age children in malaria endemic areas. Such children could, in turn, become malaria conversation drivers and behaviour change agents in their homes and communities, thereby contributing to the malaria elimination efforts.

This paper is an effort to identify the difference between government and private primary schools in terms of physical infrastructure, schooling costs and student's performance. Further, the paper assessed the role of physical infrastructure and schooling costs on the performance of students. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study used India Human Development Survey (IHDS) data. Bivariate, trivariate, χ2 and ANOVA test, factor analyses and Theil index are used as methods of analyses.

The results present a distinct picture of government and private primary school education in India in terms of physical infrastructure standards, schooling cost and performance of students. In all the three selected indicators, private primary schools remained a forerunner or outperform the government primary schools in India. Besides this, the physical infrastructure and schooling cost found to have effect on performance of students both in private and public schools.

Since government primary schools hold more than 70 percent of total students, there is an urgent need to improve the standards of primary education in these schools. Further, efforts are needed to reduce the gaps between private and public schools in terms of its basic physical facilities and performance of students in the country.

The paper used the IHDS to examine the existing differentials between government and private primary schools. The analysis is purely an original work.

The bedrock of growth in education is at the primary/basic education level, hence there is need to ensure that the populace not only enrolls but complete their education as well as maintain gender balancing. Financial inclusion is essential in achieving financial development which if properly tailored should result in economic growth and development. Education is an important development parameter, therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess if financial inclusiveness enhances primary school enrolment, completion and gender balancing.

In order to ascertain if financial inclusion (financial penetration, access and usage) enhances primary school education (primary school enrolment and completion) and gender balancing (primary school female-to-male ratio), the study employed the vector error correction modeling (VECM) to capture both short- and long-run dynamics of cointegration equations and also, ascertain how the long-run deviations are deemed corrected in the short run.

The findings of financial inclusion showed a significant positive effect on primary school enrollment but regarding primary school completion rate and female-to-male ratio, the responses to financial inclusion measures showed a completely negative effect. From the foregoing, it is not just sufficient to enroll school children but that they complete their basic primary education, and equally ensure that the males are not favored over the females so as to achieve gender balance literacy in the country.

The study focuses on how financial inclusion engenders admission, graduation and gender balancing in primary school education as the bedrock to formal education in Nigeria.

Agricultural education and training (AET) institutions will play a strategic role in helping to prepare Africa’s rapidly growing youth populations for productive careers in agriculture and related agri-businesses. The purpose of this paper is to examine the magnitude of skills and youth employment needs emanating from high-population growth rates. It then explores how agricultural education institutions are responding to these challenges in four different countries at different levels of food system development: South Africa tier 1, Tanzania in tier 2 and Malawi and Uganda in tier 3.

Demographic and school enrollment data provide information on the magnitude of job market entrants at different levels of education while Living Standards Measurement Studies in the respective countries provide a snapshot of current skill requirements in different segments of the agri-food system. In order to evaluate AET responses, the authors have conducted country-level reviews of AET systems as well as in-depth assessments at key tertiary AET institutions in each of the four case study countries.

Growth rates in primary school enrollments are high in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, because of budgetary constraints, transition rates decline rapidly – about 40 percent from primary to secondary and 7 percent from secondary to tertiary. As a result, substantial numbers of primary and secondary school graduates seek jobs.

The case study countries are limited to four. Had more financial resources and time been available, researchers could have spread further afield and in so doing increasing the precision of the results.

Estimation of the number of primary and secondary school leavers seeking employment because of failure to proceed to the next level of education. Estimation of the level of education shares in the various components of the agri-food system.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Indicator 4.2 calls for all girls and boys to have access to high-quality early childhood education by 2030. This global mandate establishes a new framework of accountability to increase access to preprimary education in low- and middle-income countries through measurement and reporting. As with other global indicators, however, the measurement of preprimary education access is more complex and nuanced than may be supposed. This data-oriented chapter delves deeply into the measurement of SDG 4.2 and explores the accuracy of the indicator being used: the adjusted net enrollment ratio, one year before the official age of primary entry. The chapter analyzes data from both education management information systems (EMIS) and household surveys to triangulate information about children’s access to preprimary education before they begin primary school. The analysis concludes that the indicator used to measure SDG 4.2 is overestimating access to preprimary education, because it includes large numbers of children who enroll in primary school before the official age of entry. This suggests that parents “vote for preschool” by sending their under-age children to primary school when access to affordable preprimary is limited. Implications for SDG measurement and preprimary policy are discussed.

This chapter examines the context for the implementation of the global commitment to early childhood education (ECE) within the framing of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) under SDG 4.2. We first define the concept of ECE as broadly understood in the field of education and in practice related to a focus on education of children. The essay adopts chronological age of children served outside of the formal school system, which has traditionally been recognized as basic education, to represent the population captured under ECE in both pre-school and pre-primary settings. UNICEF identifies those ages 3–6 to fall into this category. We present an exploration of the challenges and opportunities presented by multiplicity in multilateral agencies and other agencies driving the international initiatives around advancing ECE and the means by which they promote education opportunities for children. We offer a comparative perspective on the delivery, types, and funding mechanisms of ECE services in both developing and developed country contexts, which informs the possibilities for the realization of the SDG goal of inclusive quality education for all. An examination of the socio-cultural and economic context of accessibility to inclusive and equitable quality ECE is also presented. An overview of settings within which ECE is provided is interrogated within differing national contexts. We conclude with challenges and opportunities for sustained accountability, monitoring and evaluation of SDG 4.2 interventions from a comparative perspective.

Girls’ access to education has improved in many of the world's developing countries. These countries are striving to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) requiring them to provide gender equality, promote the empowerment of women, and establish universal primary education (UPE) by 2015. The success of UPE in achieving gender equality in enrollment in those countries able to institute it is encouraging. Where previously girls trailed boys in their ability to access education due to parent inability or reluctance to pay the costs, they are now entering primary schools in comparable numbers (UNESCO, 1999, 2006).

The primary school in any rural village is a significant and vivid institution. Its classrooms, playground, buses, staffroom, governing body, PTA committee, religious celebrations, educational visits and community events are a focus not just for village pride but for parental and social aspirations and tensions. Village schools are special local spaces, in which the bite is keenly felt of national education policies. They are sources and sites of friendships, rivalries and divisions amongst both children and adults; places where celebrations and disappointments occur on a daily basis; an important local employer and reliant on a range of committed volunteers. Village schools are genuinely lively and dramatic places.

But not in The Archers. The mostly invisible children of Ambridge simply board a bus to Loxley Barrett aged five, then mysteriously alight aged 11 at Borchester Green or the fee-paying Cathedral School. During those primary years Ambridge’s children, parents and listeners seem blissfully unaffected by tests, snow, bullying, crazes, curriculum change, poor teachers, brilliant teaching assistants, academisation, Ofsted inspections, fussy governors, budget crises or any other rural educational reality.

In this chapter we consider why primary education, a topic that dominates the lives and conversations of real village families from all backgrounds, seems to be of such insignificance to the inhabitants of Ambridge?