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In the context of an increasing number of doctoral studies on the African continent, there is a paucity of research examining the daily relationship between supervisors and doctoral students in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. Consequently, the experience of doctoral students in this field is under-debated, under-questioned, under-analysed and under-taken into account. This is despite the fact that it is central to the success or failure of the thesis process. This paper aims to reflect on postgraduate study conditions in the context of the relationship between supervisor and candidate in francophone West Africa. A qualitative study based on conversational interviews with PhD students and supervisors, was conducted at the University of Abomey-Calavi, the main public university in Benin, with 58 doctoral programmes, and statistical data issued by the university analyzed. The paper examines the conditions of suffering at various levels for PhD candidates, the asymmetrical power relation between supervisors and candidates and silo's logics which driven them. The paper demonstrates how the thesis process is complex as asymmetrical, power and conflict-prone. It also point that de the nature of doctoral work, doctoral students are exposes to various psychological, psychic and mental pressures that supervisors have to manage.

Educational governance is the focus of much discussion among both academics and development practitioners internationally. Decentralisation is seen as a core tool for promoting democracy, good governance and economic development. However, although education decentralisation and trust are interrelated dimensions of governance and democracy, they are seldom considered together and rarely contextualised within educational governance and policy studies. The qualitative study described here used interview data from stakeholders to investigate the relationship between the social dimension of trust and the structural concept of decentralisation in Benin (West Africa). The findings suggest that trust in local government officials is a precondition for the effective devolution of education responsibilities. However, parents and teachers remain sceptical about devolution, partly as a consequence of Benin's pre-colonial and colonial history. The paper outlines the implications for governance systems seeking to link decentralisation to trust in order to both mediate and enact policy choices and decisions.

This study examines the media literacy and critical thinking levels of students of West African higher educational institutions as tools for combating misinformation in the sub-region. Data analysis using the mediation approach revealed differences in students' understanding of media literacy and critical thinking and partially predicted their efficacy in combating misinformation. This stems largely from a misunderstanding of media literacy and critical thinking concepts as tools, as well as a lack of adequate provision for teaching the concepts and considering them as strategic tools for combating misinformation in the region. The study recommends concrete policy and managerial solutions to the stakeholders involved.

Purpose: This paper examines the challenges of implementing Farmer Learning Videos (FLV) in Rural Advisory Services (RAS) through a holistic approach. Our study focuses on a clear theoretical and managerial question - how do RAS manage FLV that does not easily fit into traditional models? Design/methodology/approach: The research collected data through semi-structured interviews (138 respondents) and focus group discussions (342 participants) in 30 RAS. The framework built drives the data analysis. Findings: The study shows that although most of the RAS provided poor support and did not write FLV in their project documents, many are increasingly using FLV. Extension workers see FLV as a way to efficiently and effectively achieve their goals - a helpful tool that could reduce workload. Moreover, the presence of FLV champions who are generally young and the high level of positive attitude toward FLV as well as collaboration with other organizations favor the increasing use of FLV. Practical implications: The results of this study can be used by policymakers and RAS to improve the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) into their work. Theoretical implications: This study sheds more light on the importance of a holistic approach to thoroughly understand the challenges of FLV implementation in RAS with theoretical implications for their design, implementation, and analysis. Originality: This study reports the first known application of a holistic approach to understanding the challenges of FLV implementation in RAS in Benin.

This paper focuses on examining the use of the Duolingo App as a supplement to the traditional ESP courses in Secretarial Studies, for Advanced ESP learners Classes of Lycée Technique et Professional de Porto Novo (LTP-PN), in the Benin Republic. The Objective is to assess substantial improvement of Learners Oral Communication skills after 3 months of studious use of mobile language learning apps. An experimental mixed-method research design in two stages have been used. During the first stage, quantitative data was collected using questionnaires administered to Ten (10) ESP teachers and Forty (40) randomly selected ESP secretarial studies learners of LTP-PN. Qualitative data was also gathered during classroom observations. In the second stage, the experimentation process involving the Experimental Groups (EG), which received the treatment, that is "the use of Duolingo for 15 Mn", and the Control Group (CG) were tested. The data was collected and computed using one way ANOVA test in SPSS 26. The result shows a statistical significance between the use of Duolingo and Secretarial Studies ESP learners' oral proficiency improvement. This paper further suggested that mobile learning apps such as Duolingo should be used as a supplement to the traditional ESP courses. It also pointed out the necessity for ESP teachers to invest in their professional development rather than waiting for the government.

This article examines the pedagogical transformation generated by dual apprenticeship training and its impact on the Benin crafts sector. Dual training combines vocational education at training centres with on-the-job training in workshops during the week. Graduates of this programme receive a certificate of professional qualification ("Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle" -- CQP). For this qualitative research, the authors visited 7 training centres and 39 workshops to make direct observations. Using a life-history approach, they conducted formal and informal interviews with craftspeople and semi-structured interviews with CQP graduates, non-CQP graduates, professional association personnel, training centre staff and CQP trainers. This research was carried out in Parakou, the most important city in central and northern Benin. In total, 96 individuals were interviewed, using purposive selection to pick actors from professional associations, convenience sampling with non-CQP graduates and snowball sampling to reach other participants. The study is underpinned by social change theory, with an emphasis on the factors and agents of change. The research findings indicate that dual training has a favourable impact on skills development, competency transfer and job performance in the crafts sector. CQP graduates benefit from both theoretical knowledge and practical expertise gained during their training. Those who succeed in finding a job or even setting up their own workshop contribute to building a competence-based approach to apprenticeships and stand out in the competitive labour market. Craftspeople who are unable to stand out in the labour market face employment insecurity. The majority of the CQP graduates interviewed had developed high self-esteem and were proud of their valuable knowledge and their ability to deliver high-quality services to satisfied clients. This also affected their relationship with older generations of craftspeople in terms of contradictions in the execution of specific tasks in occupations.

Although higher education plays a vital role in the socio-economic development of Sub-Saharan Africa, enrollment in universities in the region is unexpectedly low compared to other regions. However, Sub-Saharan African countries have made strides in increasing access to higher education amidst constraints and challenges. The efforts have led to increases in enrollment and what many countries did not anticipate is the increase in unemployment from the greater output of students. In this study, we use panel data from eleven Sub-Saharan African countries for 2000-2018 to analyze the relationship between higher education and unemployment. A panel fixed effect model was estimated, and the results indicate that unemployment has a negative and significant effect on higher enrollment. Besides, higher education enrollment has a significant but negative effect on employment. Per capita income significantly affects enrollment into higher education and has the expected sign. The estimates further show that government expenditures on higher education play a significant role in the demand for places in higher education.

Data from sub-Saharan Africa show that many students leave school without the skills they need. To address this issue, it is important to understand what factors influence learning. According to the Heyneman and Loxley effect established in 1983, in low income countries school quality influences how much students learn more than those students' backgrounds. Recent research suggests that this influential conclusion no longer holds, without discounting the possibility that this trend could still be observed in very-low income countries. The present work investigates this possibility by using the PASEC dataset, which includes ten countries in West- and Central Africa. Improving on Heyneman and Loxley's methodology by using general dominance analysis, this article finds no support for the 'Heyneman-Loxley Effect'. Both school resource and student background account for around half of the explained variance in learning. This suggests that both family- and school-related factors are important sources of inequality of opportunity in low-income contexts.

Decentralising education is a much-debated topic among policy researchers and practitioners though not often from a Foucauldian-influenced CDA perspective. This article's specific focus is education decentralisation in Benin, arguing that the policy is framed by a modernist development understanding and reflects the country's (neo-) colonial legacy and the influence of the development agencies and consulting firms involved in writing the policy. The policy can be viewed as a bricolage that pays scant attention to the rich social and cultural capital of Benin's. The article concludes by advocating systems of education governance to overcome the historically produced, uneven and asymmetrical power relations between the global North and South.

This paper discusses the effect of the dual apprenticeship or Certificate of Professional Qualification (CQP) program on the CQP students and graduates in Benin. The study sought to understand how dual apprenticeship was introduced in formal TVET system and how the dual training is provided in Benin context. This research was conducted on the descriptive qualitative method through three techniques. First, literature analysis was used to review the existing literature on Benin dual apprenticeship. Secondly, individual semi structured interviews were conducted to collect data from actors of the public and private institutions. Third, direct observation data were collected through on-site visits in the training centres. In total, 30 persons were interviewed using purposive and snowball samplings. The social constructivism theory, learning theory and the nested layer approach were used to analyze data. Results show that the Develop A Curriculum method was used to develop 13 craft occupations in which Benin dual apprenticeship is offered. CQP apprentices show positive effects on the skills acquisition. However, the CQP training does not follow the requirements regarding the principle of duality. The lack of the collaboration between training providers does not increase the commitment and the participation of the master craftsmen/women. The assessment plan does not evaluate the skills achieved in the master workshops. Although Benin dual apprenticeship builds the social cognitive capacities of the apprentices, the skills achievement of the CQP apprentices is not sustainable due to the intensive method used to train apprentices and because of the lack of materials and work equipment in the master workshops.

In order to know the reasons why the pregnancy phenomenon is increasing at schools, this study focused on early pregnancy determining and repercussion analysis at schools in Benin. The principal data have been collected from three public secondary schools in Benin. Descriptive analysis and frequencies using have been used to analyze the data. After the analysis of collected data, results show that having sex without condoms, parents' poverty are the principal causes of early pregnancy. The majority (48.4%) of pregnant girls are 15 or 17 years old and all the pregnancies concern the girls of first cycle (first form to fourth form) based on non-desire pregnancy. The consequences of this phenomenon are on the health, society and schools. [Note: The issue number (1) indicated on the PDF is incorrect. This article is published in the v3 n2 2020 issue.]

This article analyses and identifies the extent to which the different pre- and post-independence typologies of governance in Benin have facilitated the promotion of lifelong learning as instrument for development. Relying on the thematic content analysis method, the article identifies three themes and three main typologies of governance spanning the independence preparation period and post-independence era. Of the three styles of governance, only the Marxist-Leninist government succeeded in promoting lifelong learning by default. Lifelong learning being one type of learning that promotes the re-engineering of society through the constant dissemination of knowledge, information and know-how and through the constant retooling of the citizenry for purpose of investment of their talents in ever renewable ways, Benin is called upon to prioritise the promotion of lifelong learning soon. Specifically, Benin has been advised to restructure her national educational sector by bringing the whole sector under one Minister of Education with a view to enabling a seamless interaction across all sections of the national education. This restructuring as described in Figure 1 within the article, would facilitate timeous access to knowledge, information and skills that would enable individuals to participate in different sectors of the economy and thereby advance rapid national socio-economic development.

This study investigates skills mismatch in the agricultural labour market. Therefore, 336 agriculture employers and 654 agriculture employees were surveyed in Benin. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests . The findings showed that even though there is a good educational match for most employees, overeducation is more substantial than under education for upper agricultural high school diploma holders (DEAT) and agricultural tertiary education diploma holders. In addition, about 2% of agricultural high education diploma holders and 6.38% of DEAT holders had a job irrelevant to their field of study. The study further showed that agriculture graduates were under-skilled for the soft and digital skills under review. Moreover, training providers do not equip students with job search skills. These findings imply that vertical mismatch is more pronounced than horizontal mismatch. The study suggested a prioritisation of the implementation of training programmes based on the demand in terms of study level and field of study, an update of curricula by integrating the lacking soft, digital and job search skills, a settlement of a collaborative network between employers and training institutions, an implementation of mentoring programmes, and an investment of enterprises in the adequate training of youth as social responsability.

This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring technical expertise. This has an indirect effect, which is the second crucial factor: lack of economic development and change in labour markets. There are very few jobs that would be considered 'middle class' or 'mid-level' in wealthy countries. Most people are in survivalist work. An international consensus since the 2000s on palliative approaches to development which address the effects but not the causes of the lack of economic development in Africa has resulted in mass poor quality provision of education--the third factor. Education systems are rapidly expanding and achievement levels rising, in the context of very little possibility of labour market rewards for most people, and substantial labour market rewards confined mainly to graduates. This reinforces deeply embedded cultural preferences for general education, which originate in the type of education systems established by colonial powers, as well as the relationships between educational credentials and elite jobs.

This paper sets out to investigate how communicative grammar can effectively be used in EFL classes in Benin to promote real language practice. To collect data, instruments such as questionnaires, interview and class observation were used. The sample of the study consists of twenty purposively chosen secondary EFL teachers (ten of them teach traditional grammar and ten, communicative grammar) and twenty six students ranging from beginners to advanced level. The data were analyzed using the SPSS tools, the goal of which is to verify the effectiveness of this approach over the traditional one. The findings of the investigation have revealed the following: (i) not many teachers teach communicative grammar in Benin and those who claim they teach it still have a hazy idea of what it is supposed to be; (ii) communicative grammar teaching is what is needed to make EFL learning a rewarding experience for students' effective use of the language; (iii) both approaches are not mutually exclusive for they can become perfect complements. The study concluded with some strategies for implementation illustrated by some suggested activities that can develop students' communicative strategies and interactional skills.

Beliefs and practices are usually guided by philosophies or thought patterns is the case with the Yoruba who believe and regard formal education in high esteem. This high regard and the level of commitment shown to formal education is founded on "Kí òla mi báa lè dára" (that my future may be bright), a philosophy of educational engagement. This philosophy, over time, has gone through three different phases: the popular phase, the unpopular phase and current phase of review. During the popular phase, the attitude of the Yoruba was mostly towards formal educational engagement. They believed without doubt that formal education was the most effective means to a guaranteed bright future. During the second phase, which is the unpopular phase, the philosophy had lost its appeal because it failed to blend theory with practice. Experience showed that formal education is not the most assured means to a guaranteed future. The current phase, which is the third phase, is a stage of re-examining the philosophy thereby making formal education more appealing to youths. This paper examines "Kí òla mi báa lè dára" as a basis for explaining the early focus on formal education among the Yoruba, and how this philosophy has determined the attitude of the Yoruba towards formal education. To buttress existing literature, a questionnaire was administered and data collected from 300 randomly selected youths between the age of 12 and 18. The questionnaires sought to know the role that formal education had played in ensuring a bright future. The paper concluded that formal education is currently no longer perceived as the key factor to achieving a bright future among youths. It also identified ways of improving on "Kí òla mi báa lè dára" as a philosophy of engagement in formal education.

Josh Garry describes his effort to refresh his approach to teaching the British transatlantic slave trade. Drawing on reading, lectures and discussions during an Historical Association Teacher Fellowship programme, Garry built a sequence of lessons designed to contextualise the trade while showing African agency and complexity. The result was a sequence that encompassed a very long time span, It focused chiefly on Benin and introduced the concept of 'underdevelopment' as advanced by Walter Rodney. Garry unpacks the curricular reasoning process that took him on the path towards new vibrancy, dialogue and engagement for staff and pupils alike.

The aim of this paper is firstly, to make teachers correct thoroughly students' errors with effective strategies. Secondly, it is an attempt to find out if teachers are interested themselves in errors correction in Beninese secondary schools. Finally, I would like to point out the effective strategies that an EFL teacher can use for errors correction as far as EFL teaching/learning is concerned. The results from the interviews and classroom observation will also be taken into account to analyse with problem solving strategies. Field survey is used and the target population was teachers and students in Beninese secondary schools.

Higher Education is demanding the need of a greater connection between its academic offer and the necessary civic engagement of the graduates. This has given Spain the opportunity, for just over a decade, to develop the methodology of service-learning, which combines both the theoretical and practical aspect of university learning with the practical development of solidarity and civic commitment of the students. At the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED, Spain) we have designed an online service-learning proposal, based on the virtual exchange which occurs between the students from the UNED and the University of PortoNovo (Benin), requiring practical classes of Spanish. The result favours continuing with this virtual servicelearning project aimed at the exchange with other universities; strengthening the planning of the training proposal for the development of ethical competence and civic engagement; the design of solidarity service action that enhances global citizenship and intercultural dialogue, consolidates digital competence, etc., all in a virtual educational environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has renewed concerns about how shocks may affect religious and other private schools in low-income countries, especially when they do not benefit from state support. By reducing parental incomes, shocks -- not only epidemics but also natural disasters and conflicts, reduce overall enrollment in school. But they may also lead to a shift from private to public schools with potentially differentiated effects by type of private school depending on context. In addition, household responses to shocks such as migration may lead to a change in the socio-cultural context in which households live, and these changes may also affect school choice. This paper explores the effects of shocks and migration on school choice in West Africa. Results suggest that shocks and migration lead to a shift from private to public schools, but with differentiated effects by type of private schools.

The introduction of Western education to Nigeria has brought in its wake great strides toward development. Changes in Benin dates far back to the dawn of the 20th century. This paper investigates the critical role of education in development. The paper integrates interview data collected from bronze casters in Benin. The first section of the paper discusses sustainable development in Nigeria involving an infrastructure that supports accessible educational system and Benin social values. The second part of the paper discusses the present dispensation of bronze casting by Olotan casters of Benin. The paper identifies education as being critical to sustainable development. Some characteristics connected to development in the practice of bronze casting in Benin include visioning, relaxing of age old practices and acceptance of western influences.

Influential reports about the "learning crisis" in the global South generally pay insufficient attention to social inequalities in learning. In this study, we explore the association between family socioeconomic status and learning outcomes in 10 francophone African countries using data from the Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems, a standardized assessment of pupils' mathematics and reading competence at the end of primary school. We start by showing that learning outcomes among grade 6 pupils are both poor and highly stratified. We then develop and test a conceptual framework that highlights three mechanisms through which family socioeconomic status might contribute to learning: (1) educational resources at home, (2) health and well-being, and (3) differences in school quality. We find that most of the effect of family background on learning outcomes operates through school quality, which results from a combination of the unequal distribution of resources (such as teachers and textbooks) across schools and high socioeconomic segregation between schools. On the basis of these results, we suggest that most countries in the region could improve equity as well as overall performance by "raising the floor" in school quality.

Survey-based experimental methods are increasingly used in the social sciences to study, among others, attitudes, norms, and fairness judgments. One of these methods is the factorial survey experiment (FSE or vignette experiment) in which respondents are confronted with various descriptions of situations that differ in a discrete number of attributes (or factors), and they are asked to evaluate those situations according to criteria such as agreement, approval, and fairness. Due to the systematic experimental variation of the presented situations, an FSE can separate effects of single situational attributes, allowing the causal influence of relevant situational attributes to be determined. This is the key advantage over simple survey items. While most studies using FSEs are carried out in developed countries in which respondents are familiar with surveys, we add further evidence that this method can also unfold its power in a developing context. Building on previous applications of FSEs in Africa, we demonstrate the usefulness of this method in four novel studies on social norms regarding the physical punishment of children and the social approval of technology adoption in Benin as well as judgments of just earnings in Rwanda. We also test for the first time the applicability of multiple vignettes per respondents in a Global South/remote area context. The results of these studies are theoretically meaningful and the overwhelming majority of respondents discriminate between vignettes. This supports the validity of FSEs. However, conducting survey experiments in developing countries is different from similar experimental research in developed countries and, therefore, we also discuss some of these differences and corresponding challenges. Last but not least, our article shows, provided a few precautions are heeded, that FSEs could be used as a vehicle to innovate social science research in a Global South/remote area context.

This paper is the second in a set of two on the extent to which Catholic and other faith-based schools are serving the poor well. Catholic and other faith-based schools reach millions of children who live in poverty, yet this does not necessarily mean that they are serving these children well enough. The paper considers two separate issues. First, beyond academic subjects, Catholic and other faith-based schools emphasise learning related to values and religion. Do they succeed in doing so? Based on small sample survey data and qualitative fieldwork, as well as broader data on parental satisfaction with schools, the paper provides a tentative and mostly positive answer to this question, at least from the view of parents. The second issue is where performance is weaker. Education systems are affected by a learning crisis in the developing world. All schools should ensure that students learn, but too often this is not the case. The second part of the paper documents this learning crisis and the fact that Catholic and other faith-based schools are not immune to it. This is done in part through a rapid review of the recent World Development Report on education's promise, and a companion piece for sub-Saharan Africa. Estimates of performance for selected African countries are also provided. The results are sobering: too many children are not learning while in school. Finally, the paper briefly summarises evidence from the literature on interventions that could improve learning, including in Catholic and faith-based schools. [For Part I of the series, see EJ1206878.]

Purpose: This paper explores the main factors that influence farmers in acquiring agricultural knowledge and adopting technologies with the aim of better understanding the agricultural innovation systems in West Africa. Design/Methodology/Approach: We use data collected between 2013 and 2014 across rice hubs in five West African countries: Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria and Togo. In total, 499 household heads were surveyed using a stratified random sampling technique. Data are analyzed with the Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test and the Poisson regression. Findings: The findings show that farmers' knowledge is influenced by a range of factors, including household size, training, access to formal and informal knowledge sources and community socioeconomic status. Farmers rely heavily on personal experiences and fellow farmers to adopt technologies. Practical implications: The study suggests that key policies for strengthening the innovation systems are those that help farmers access both formal and informal knowledge sources, credit services, better welfare and information and communication tools. Theoretical implications: The study shows the need to consider both extrinsic factors (e.g. characteristics of the technology and attributes of the external environment) and intrinsic factors (e.g. knowledge, perceptions and attitudes of the potential adopter towards the innovation) when analyzing the decision process toward technology adoption in West Africa. Originality/Value: This initiative is to identify the conditions that will enable a more inclusive technology development and diffusion process. This is important because agricultural extension is currently undergoing a deep restructuring focused on privatizing the agricultural services in developing countries characterized by a low literacy rate.

Climate adaptation research often ignores the broader socio-cultural human sphere within which climate change takes place. Dominant viewpoints on climate adaptation derive from the biophysical world that often excludes social, economic, and political contexts that also connect to biophysical changes. Hybrid methodological mixed methods approaches to climate adaptation provide paradigmatically different questions. This perspective is useful for identifying socio-cultural aspects of climatic adaptation. To demonstrate the power of a hybrid approach for interconnecting human and non-human factors implicated in climate adaptation, we deploy an in-depth case study of N. Benin, West African farmers who increasingly must configure their farming methods to tackle erratic changes in weather. The case study examines the role gender dynamics play in climate adaptation that found few gender differences in the ways male and female farmers perceive the biophysical aspects of climate adaptation on their subsistence farming lifestyle from their initial village climate survey. However, the qualitative components of their study uncovered significant gender differences in socio-cultural adaptation challenges, vulnerabilities, and future lifestyle opportunities. We discuss the transformative policy implications about ignoring gender difference and the importance of taking an intersectional approach to variation in climate adaptation policy making.

Education is no longer primarily a privilege of the upper classes but open to all those who are of various classes and competence. Consequently, hostel as auxiliary services should be equipped to house these diverse students. There seemed to be inadequate hostel facilities in most of the Nigerian Universities to achieve such a purpose. The purpose of this study was therefore to critically examine the running of hostels as auxiliary services and its implications for academic studies in University of Benin, Nigeria. Theoretical framework was based on social climate theory by Moos (1976). Four research questions were raised and were hypothesized and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population from which the sample size was drawn consisted of 9,669 expected hostellers from 2008/9 to 2011/12 academic session. Data collected from 2008 to 2012 pocket statistics was 29,006. These data were analyzed using percentages, chi-square and Pearson correlation. The findings revealed significant disparities and correlation among the variables.

The first purpose of this descriptive study was to provide information regarding implementation of the compulsory science curricula in secondary school settings in the Republic of Benin in West Africa in which were infused elements of environmental education (EE). The second was to investigate science teachers' attitudes towards teaching environmental topics, as well as specifics regarding self-efficacy, teaching practices, and perceived barriers in teaching EE. A Likert-style survey was administered to a total of 537 secondary school science teachers composed of two subpopulations. Ten teachers (5 SPCT and 5 BES teachers) were interviewed. A mixed methods research design was utilized to provide a fuller understanding of participants' responses. The findings of this study showed that: (1) all teachers indicated strong support for the importance of EE for secondary science students; (2) BES teachers reported significantly greater "Personal Efficacy" than did their SPCT colleagues; no significant difference between BES and SPCT on the Teaching efficacy scale; (3) teachers indicated use of a diverse set of instructional strategies; (4) teachers had a mean response in the moderate range to perceived barriers; and (5) the BES teachers had a statistically significant lower mean for perceived barriers than did the SPCT teachers. Science teachers' empowerment to teach EE issues in their class and the requirement for these topics in teacher education and professional development programs are the major implications derived from the study. Finally, suggestions for further research related to these topics are offered.

This study showed that documents used for learning at high school are made up texts and images and those documents in contrast to audio-video materials did not stimulate the students.

Over the past several decades, music education scholars have put forth a variety of convincing rationales for world music education. Yet the gap between theory and practice in this area persists. In theoretical ways, practicing music educators acknowledge the value of world music learning experiences, but many remain reluctant to fully embrace and embody this approach in practice. Through this article, one practicing general music educator shares her personal experience of writing, implementing, and subsequently observing another music educator use a new world music curriculum resource, inspired by the music traditions of the Fon people in southern Benin. As our understanding of world music pedagogy continues to evolve, more practicing music educators should share their unique perspectives and experiences. These "snapshots" from the field can help other (perhaps more hesitant) music educators envision what this pedagogical approach might look like in their own classrooms.

Cell-phone ready educational videos, translated into local languages, are a recent phenomenon in developing nations. One of the reasons for the emergence of this approach is due to the scarcity of other forms of educational materials with appropriate content for low literate learners. Additionally, the World Wide Web (WWW) has very little to offer in regards to audio-visual training materials that could be used to educate people in their own local languages without the need for literacy. Scientific Animations Without Borders (SAWBO) creates and works with local groups to deploy educational videos in local languages facilitating access to information and knowledge to individuals in the developing world. This paper is based on a survey conducted with 83 individuals on the perception of three SAWBO educational animations--neem extracts for insect control, cholera and malaria prevention; and their potential as training tools for health and agricultural extension in Benin. These animations provide information and knowledge in a simple way, on complex ideas and techniques that could improve livelihoods. The results obtained in this study suggest that animated videos are a well-received approach as a training tool in agriculture and prevention of diseases amongst populations with diverse literacy levels.

As a tool in an educational delivery system contributing to social and economic development, distance learning has become an accepted and indispensable aspect of the mainstream of educational systems in developed and developing countries. Indeed, the globalization of distance education provides several opportunities for developing countries, including the West African sub-region, for the realization of education system goals, especially the growing need for continuing skills upgrading and retraining. As countries in the West African sub-region become more aware of the potential of distance learning, it is important for their educational planning that the opportunities provided by new technologies prominent in distance learning be realistically harnessed within the framework of well-defined policies. In this regard, a policy framework is needed to ensure that quality education is provided for learners in new and long-established distance education institutions in the West African sub-region. Regardless of the diverse distance education practices in the West African sub-region, a regional policy framework is possible and imperative to regulate the organization and implementation of quality distance higher education programmes in West Africa.

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of cannabis and amphetamine use and associated factors among adolescents in nine African countries. We analyzed cross-sectional data from 25,372 adolescents (mean age 14.3 years, SD = 1.6) from nine African countries that participated in the Global School-Based Student Health Survey (GSHS) in 2009-2013. Information was collected with a self-administered structured questionnaire. Overall, past-month cannabis use was 4.1% and lifetime amphetamine use was 5.1% among students. In multivariable unconditional regression analysis older age, personal attributes (suicidal ideation, current smoking, school truancy, and having had two or more sexual partners), smoking status of the father and/or mother, and environmental stressors (having experienced hunger, been bullied, having been in a physical fight and having been attacked) were associated with both past-month cannabis and lifetime amphetamine use. Measures to prevent and control cannabis and amphetamine use should include personal attributes (suicidal ideation, school truancy, and HIV sexual risk behavior) and environmental stressors (food insecurity and violence).

This study investigates how an interviewer's characteristics affect how respondents answer survey questions about democracy and political engagement. I analyze data from the 2008 Afrobarometer surveys, in which 810 interviewers surveyed 27,713 respondents across 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Using these data, I study how interviewer education, age, and gender affect two outcomes: (1) response distributions to attitudinal and behavioral survey questions and (2) the likelihood of respondents saying 'don't know' to a survey question. The analysis also investigates how the respondent's perception of who sponsored the survey (NGO, private sector, government) affects attitudes. The results show that these interviewer characteristics affect the quality of survey data on political attitudes and behaviors. In the discussion, I consider the implications for research based on public opinion data about democracy and political engagement.

Following the calls of international conferences related to the teaching of science and technology, technology education (TE) was integrated as a component of physical sciences programmes in Benin, West Africa. This study investigates physical science teachers' attitudes towards the integration of TE topics in secondary school science curricula in Benin, and the factors influencing the implementation of the programme. It also proposes solutions to overcome issues of implementation. A quantitative research method was used to collect data. A 67-item questionnaire designed by the researchers was distributed to a convenience sample of 176 physical science teachers in the three largest towns in Benin, and the data were statistically analysed using SPSS 19.0. The results showed that teachers were positive about teaching the TE topics. Many issues affected TE integration in the science curriculum including teachers' incapacity to design TE lesson plans; the large class sizes; and most importantly students' inability to understand and speak the instructional language. A variety of solutions were proposed in order to improve the teaching conditions. These included a revision of the TE topics integrated in the programmes, and encouragement of government and school administrators to provide necessary TE teaching materials.

DHS data is combined with school supply statistics to study primary school attendance in the 2005-06 school year in Benin, a country that has seen almost unparalleled increases in attendance since the 1990s. Results of a logistic regression model highlight the important role played by factors such as household wealth or religion and that gender disparities in education persist in Benin. The opportunity cost of attending school is also investigated. In order to explain regional disparities in attendance, a multilevel model is estimated; results from a random-slopes model highlight those communes where reductions in the cost of schooling could see the greatest improvements in primary school attendance rates.