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One of the major challenges facing Africa today is ensuring that extension practitioners are well trained to enable them [to] function effectively as facilitators of change at the farmers' level. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a mid-career [Bachelor of Science] B.Sc. agricultural extension curriculum in meeting the education needs of mid-career extension agents. The study was descriptive and used a validated questionnaire to collect data from 30 purposively selected graduates of the program. The study revealed that 66.7 per cent were aged between 40-49 years, and 93.3 per cent had at least 10 years of working experience before entering the program. The graduates considered their competencies at the start of the program to be below average in all but six of the 25 courses offered under the program. After going through the program, all the graduates had competencies that were rated from high to very high. Improvement in academic status, knowledge and skills in the human relations as well as technical areas in agriculture, and attitude to work, were perceived as the major benefits of the program. The effectiveness of the program in meeting the needs of the graduates was attributed to the availability of appropriate facilities and the conducive environment for the teaching-learning process, availability of adequate and competent lecturers, committed and supportive administrative staff, balanced curriculum and a well-planned and supervised field component of the program know as the supervised enterprise projects (SEPs).

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In order to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Nigeria adopts both formal and non-formal approaches to provide basic education for its citizenry. Thus, to determine the effectiveness of the non-formal approach in providing basic education in Nigeria, this study examines the competency level of Nigerian non-formal education learners on a life-skills achievement test. The test was administered to a sample of 876 learners. The competency level in life-skills of the majority of the learners was below the national benchmark (50%). Rural dwellers were more competent than urban dwellers and young learners were more competent than old learners.

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Rote learning in an Egyptian literacy classroom shows many of the features of ritual language. Ritual is used to maintain social order and continuity, and the performative nature of text production is dominant to its communicative function. The performance pedagogy of this classroom is analysed as a sequence of framing, modelling, practice, performance, and evaluation. Evaluation of learning is thus based on a correct performance rather than on interpretation, comprehension or expression. Show less