Education for All and Multigrade Teaching:
Challenges and Opportunities
Edited by Angela W. Little
Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom
Multigrade teaching
poses a challenge to learning. Millions of learners worldwide are taught by
teachers who, at any one time, are responsible for two or more school
grades/years. These are the invisible multigrade teachers who struggle to
provide learning opportunities for all within curriculum and teacher education
systems designed for monograded classes. In many countries multigraded classes
arise out of necessity and are regarded as second class education. Yet in some
parts of the world learning and teaching in multigraded settings is embraced as
the pedagogy of choice, offering equivalent, and sometime superior, learning
opportunities. Multigrade teaching provides an opportunity for improved
learning. This book is based on
original research on challenges and opportunities in Colombia, England, Ghana,
Malawi, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Peru, Turks and Caicos and Vietnam. Its purpose
is to raise awareness among educational policymakers and practitioners worldwide
of the realities of multigrade classes in the context of Education for All, and
to explore the implications for teachers, teacher educators, curriculum
developers and educational planners.
‘Education
for All and Multigrade Teaching’ should be a
mandatory reading for policy makers, teachers and leader of educational
institutions worldwide. The value of this publication, led by a world renowned author, stems from its international perspective, comprehensive scope and detailed presentation of evidence in a variety of cultural, political and economic contexts. This book is timely in demonstrating
how multigrade schools and teaching can make a significant contribution to
EDUCATION FOR ALL and the MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS in all societies,
developed and developing.
’Vicky Colbert, Executive Director,
Fundaciόn Escuela Nueva Volvamos a la Gente, Bogota, Colombia
March 2006, 382
pages ISBN:
1-4020-4590-5 (hardcover), prices: € 124.95, £ 96.00, US$ 159.00, soft cover $ 69.95, Kindle edition $ 62.96. Available from Springer and Amazon
Table of contents
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
List of Abbreviations
1. Education for All: multigrade realities and histories; A.W. Little
2. Learning opportunities for all: pedagogy in multigrade and monograde classrooms in the Turks and Caicos Islands; C. Berry
3. A multigrade approach to literacy in the Amazon, Peru: school and community perspectives; P. Ames
4. Multigrade teaching in London, England; C. Berry and A.W. Little
5. Multigrade teachers and their training in rural Nepal; T. Suzuki
6. Prepared for diversity? Teacher education for lower primary classes in Malawi; A. Croft
7. Adapting the primary mathematics curriculum to the multigrade classroom in rural Sri Lanka; M. Vithanapathirana
8. Improving the quality of health education in multigrade schools in Vietnam; Vu S and P. Pridmore
9. Adapting the curriculum for teaching health in multigrade classes in Vietnam; P. Pridmore with Vu S
10. EFA for pastoralists in Noth Sudan: a mobile multigrade model of schooling; S. Aikman and H. El Haj
11. Extending basic education to out-of-school children in Northern Ghana: what can multigrade schooling teach us?; A. Kwame Akyeampong
12. The costs and finance of multigrade strategies for learning: how do the books balance?; K.M. Lewin
13. Escuela nueva’s impact on the peaceful social interaction of children in Colombia; C.Forero, D.Escobar-Rodriguez and D. Molina.
14. Multigrade lessons for EFA; A.W. Little
Index
