This book is a comprehensive text for those interested in formal
education in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides a thought-provoking
overview of the key educational ideas, themes and issues facing
schooling in Africa today, by drawing on a wide literature to examine
evidence concerning both educational policy and the working realities of
primary and secondary schools in Africa. Based on the author's forty
years of experience in researching and publishing on education in
Africa, it takes a balanced but critical approach to analysing education
in Africa, and discusses both positive and negative patterns across the
region, as well as identifying differences between and within countries.
The book examines major questions of educational provision, structure,
content and process but does so in a way that raises challenging
questions about gender, inequality, violence, authoritarianism and
democracy in education as well the fundamental question of whether
education is achieving its desired outcomes. It will be of great
interest to students and researchers working in the fields of
comparative and international education, education and international
development, African education, African studies and development studies.