This book argues that despite the hype within many policy circles, there is actually very little evidence to support the presumed benefits of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in reducing poverty and addressing inequalities in the provision of and access to public services. Taking a cross-sectoral comparative approach, this book investigates how PPPs have played out in practice, and what the implications have been for inequalities. Drawing on a range of empirical case studies in education, healthcare, housing and water, the book picks apart the roles of PPPs as financing mechanisms in several international and national contexts and considers the similarities and differences between sectors. The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant questions about the future of social provision and through its analysis of the emergence and expansion of the role of PPPs, the book also makes a vital contribution to current discussion over this rapidly changing landscape. Overall, this wide-ranging guide to understanding and evaluating the role of PPPs in the Global South will be useful to researchers within development, international relations, economics, and related fields, as well as to policy makers and practitioners working in development-related policy.

This book argues that despite the hype within many policy circles, there is actually very little evidence to support the presumed benefits of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in reducing poverty and addressing inequalities in the provision of and access to public services. Taking a cross-sectoral comparative approach, this book investigates how PPPs have played out in practice, and what the implications have been for inequalities. Drawing on a range of empirical case studies in education, healthcare, housing and water, the book picks apart the roles of PPPs as financing mechanisms in several international and national contexts and considers the similarities and differences between sectors. The global COVID-19 pandemic has raised significant questions about the future of social provision and through its analysis of the emergence and expansion of the role of PPPs, the book also makes a vital contribution to current discussion over this rapidly changing landscape. Overall, this wide-ranging guide to understanding and evaluating the role of PPPs in the Global South will be useful to researchers within development, international relations, economics, and related fields, as well as to policy makers and practitioners working in development-related policy.

Drawing on case-study research that examined initiatives which engaged with global aspirations to advance gender equality in schooling in Kenya and South Africa, this book looks at how global frameworks on gender, education and poverty are interpreted in local settings and the politics of implementation. It discusses the forms of global agreements in particular contexts, and allows for an appraisal of how they have been understood by the people who implement them. By using an innovative approach to comparative cross country research, the book illuminates how ideas and actions connect and disconnect around particular meanings of poverty, education and gender in large systems and different settings. Its conclusions will allow assessments of the approach to the post-2015 agenda to be made, taking account of how policy and practice relating to global social justice are negotiated, sometimes negated, the forms in which they are affirmed and the actions that might help enhance them. This book will be valuable for students, researchers, academics, senior teachers, senior government and inter-government officials and senior staff in NGOs working in the field of education and international development, gender, poverty reduction, and social development.

Debates around quality versus quantity in education can generate controversy about how quality is measured. Many question the drive to delineate and quantify precisely what works, suggesting that much value either cannot be measured or is distorted by measurement. This book explores how we can understand measurement in areas of education policy, planning, and practice that have not previously been considered measurable. The contributors ask four main questions: What do we measure and not measure when we try to measure the unmeasurable in education? When attempts have been made to measure the unmeasurable in education, what metrics have been adopted in which contexts, and with what outcomes? Why have measures been adopted as indicators of the unmeasurable, such as human rights? And how have particular organisations approached the problem of measuring the apparently unmeasurable in education, with what epistemological, normative, and conceptual resources, and consequences? The book draws on analyses from philosophy, history, sociology, and economics, with insights from national and international contexts. The contributions consider philosophical distinctions, historical experiences, and contemporary reflections on how to refine existing approaches to measurement of poverty, capability, rights, and the benefits of education. The discussion shows how measuring the unmeasurable takes account of the inequalities, complexities and uncertainties of work in education, thus suggesting a considerable deepening of the notion of education quality and measurement. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

Timely and original, this book examines gender equality in schooling as an aspiration of global social justice. With nearly one billion people having little or no schooling and women and girls comprising nearly two-thirds of this total, this book analyses the historical, sociological, political and philosophical issues involved as well as exploring actions taken by governments, Inter-Government Organisations, NGOs and women's groups since 1990 to combat this injustice. Written by a recognised expert in this field, the book is organised clearly into three parts: the first provides a background to the history of the provision of schooling for girls worldwide since 1945 and locates the challenges of gender inequality in education the second examines different views as to why questions of gender and schooling should be addressed globally, contrasting arguments based on human capital theory, rights and capabilities the third analyses how governments, Inter-Government Organisations and NGOs have put policy into practice. Addressing the urgent global challenges in gender and schooling, this book calls for a new connected approach in policy and practice. It is essential reading for all those interested in education, along with developmental studies, sociology, politics and women's studies.

Throughout the 1990s an ambitious global process of policy making was associated with the work of UN agencies which believed that global co-ordination and connection was key to dealing with a range of pressing challenges. Gender inequality in education and poverty reduction featured prominently in these concerns and in attendant policy. As 2010 approached and commentators could look back at ten years of the MDG process, a large number of studies were published assessing the successes or difficulties with this framework. However few looked at how it had been interpreted in particular national and sub-national contexts or how staff in different organisations operating at a global level viewed this approach.

This book contributes to filling the gap in the empirical literature. Drawing on case-study research that examined initiatives which engaged with global aspirations to advance gender equality in and through schooling in contexts of poverty in Kenya and South Africa, it looks at how global frameworks on gender, education and poverty are interpreted in local settings and the politics of implementation. It thus sets discussion of the form of global agreements in a particular context, which allows for an appraisal of how they have been understood by the people who implement them. In using an innovative approach to comparative cross country research it illuminates how ideas and actions connect and disconnect around particular meanings of poverty, education and gender in large systems and different settings. Its conclusions will allow assessments of the approach to the post-2015 agenda to be made taking account of how policy and practice relating to global social justice are negotiated, sometimes negated, the forms in which they are affirmed and the actions that might help enhance them.

This book will be valuable for students, researchers, academics, senior teachers, senior government and inter-government officials and senior staff in NGOs working in the field of education and international development, gender, poverty reduction, and social development. It should be of particular interest to students and academics studying and researching in education, economics, international relations, social policy, African area studies, Development Studies, Women s Studies.

Timely and original, this book examines gender equality in schooling as an aspiration of global social justice. With nearly one billion people having little or no schooling and women and girls comprising nearly two-thirds of this total, this book analyses the historical, sociological, political and philosophical issues involved as well as exploring actions taken by governments, Inter-Government Organisations, NGOs and women's groups since 1990 to combat this injustice. Written by a recognised expert in this field, the book is organised clearly into three parts: the first provides a background to the history of the provision of schooling for girls worldwide since 1945 and locates the challenges of gender inequality in education the second examines different views as to why questions of gender and schooling should be addressed globally, contrasting arguments based on human capital theory, rights and capabilities the third analyses how governments, Inter-Government Organisations and NGOs have put policy into practice. Addressing the urgent global challenges in gender and schooling, this book calls for a new connected approach in policy and practice. It is essential reading for all those interested in education, along with developmental studies, sociology, politics and women's studies.

Debates around quality versus quantity in education can generate controversy about how quality is measured. Many question the drive to delineate and quantify precisely what works, suggesting that much value either cannot be measured or is distorted by measurement. This book explores how we can understand measurement in areas of education policy, planning, and practice that have not previously been considered measurable. The contributors ask four main questions: What do we measure and not measure when we try to measure the unmeasurable in education? When attempts have been made to measure the unmeasurable in education, what metrics have been adopted in which contexts, and with what outcomes? Why have measures been adopted as indicators of the unmeasurable, such as human rights? And how have particular organisations approached the problem of measuring the apparently unmeasurable in education, with what epistemological, normative, and conceptual resources, and consequences? The book draws on analyses from philosophy, history, sociology, and economics, with insights from national and international contexts. The contributions consider philosophical distinctions, historical experiences, and contemporary reflections on how to refine existing approaches to measurement of poverty, capability, rights, and the benefits of education. The discussion shows how measuring the unmeasurable takes account of the inequalities, complexities and uncertainties of work in education, thus suggesting a considerable deepening of the notion of education quality and measurement. This book was originally published as a special issue of Comparative Education.

Education and International Development provides an introduction to the debates on education and international development, giving an overview of the history, influential theories, key concepts, areas of achievement and emerging trends in policy and practice. Written by leading academics from Canada, India, Netherlands, South Africa, UK, USA, and New Zealand, this second edition has been fully updated in light of recent changes in the field, such as the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals and the increased focus on environmental sustainability and equality. The book includes three new chapters on private providers, decolonisation and learning outcomes as well as a range of pedagogical features including key concept boxes, biographies of influential thinkers and practitioners, further reading lists, questions for reflection and debate, and case studies from around the developing world.

This compelling book introduces Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen's, capability approach, and explores its significance for theory, policy and practice in education. The capability approach has attracted attention across disciplinary boundaries in recent years contributing to debates in economics, political philosophy, health and social policy. This book complements these discussions by considering the potential of the approach for work in education, showing how the capability approach challenges some of the key assumptions of human capital theory and how it can provide substance for policy and practice in education concerned with social justice. The book looks particularly at questions concerning the education of children, gender equality, and higher education.Contributors hail from the UK, USA, Australia, Italy and Mexico.

This compelling book introduces Nobel laureate, Amartya Sen's, capability approach, and explores its significance for theory, policy and practice in education. The capability approach has attracted attention across disciplinary boundaries in recent years contributing to debates in economics, political philosophy, health and social policy. This book complements these discussions by considering the potential of the approach for work in education, showing how the capability approach challenges some of the key assumptions of human capital theory and how it can provide substance for policy and practice in education concerned with social justice. The book looks particularly at questions concerning the education of children, gender equality, and higher education.Contributors hail from the UK, USA, Australia, Italy and Mexico.

Education and International Development provides an introduction to the debates on education and international development, giving an overview of the history, influential theories, key concepts, areas of achievement and emerging trends in policy and practice. Written by leading academics from Canada, India, Netherlands, South Africa, UK, USA, and New Zealand, this second edition has been fully updated in light of recent changes in the field, such as the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals and the increased focus on environmental sustainability and equality. The book includes three new chapters on private providers, decolonisation and learning outcomes as well as a range of pedagogical features including key concept boxes, biographies of influential thinkers and practitioners, further reading lists, questions for reflection and debate, and case studies from around the developing world.

What does quality gender-equitable education look like? How can NGOs, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers work together to achieve it? This book tackles these issues, drawing on the work of the Beyond Access, Gender, Education and Development project a partnership between Oxfam GB, the Institute of Education (University of London), and the UK Department for International Development.The contributors discuss some of the key challenges in achieving gender equality in education, provide examples of initiatives in a range of contexts, and make recommendations for action. They suggest that there is an even bigger goal to aim for than gender parity (the same proportion of girls and boys entering and completing schooling). We need to work towards an equitable education system that allows all individuals, irrespective of gender, to develop their potential. This book is invaluable for anyone involved in developing policy and good practice for quality education for all.

In a world in which poverty, social prejudice and poor-quality provision cause an estimated 100 million girls to drop out of school before completing their primary education, it is not enough for governments to pledge themselves to increase girls' access to school. This book presents a vision of a transformational education which would promote social change, enable girls to achieve their full potential and contribute to the creation of a just and democratic society. Contributors to this book examine the extent and causes of gender-based inequality in education, analyse government policies and their implications for women's empowerment and report on original field-work in a range of local contexts where gender-equality initiatives have flourished. In their introduction and their concluding chapter Sheila Aikman and Elaine Unterhalter consider the challenges that confront policy makers, practitioners, campaigners and researchers if they are to make real progress towards gender equality in education, in the context of the Millennium Development Goals.