What is a Good School? Imagining Beyond the Limits of Today to Create a Better Tomorrow

This 56-page guide, published by Raising Voices, proposes in broad outline what good schools might look like and how one could go about creating them in resource poor environments. It is aimed at anyone who has a stake in creating better schools, and its 4 chapters deal with different developmental characteristics of what it considered a good school. The publication is desigend to be a discussion guide rather than a how-to manual.

According to the document, many African countries have invested significant funding to create universal access to primary education, and some are even pushing on to secondary education. However, new students are becoming disillusioned by issues like violence, lack of infrastructure, constraints on creative thinking, and limits on opportunities. This publication discusses how the situation might be changed to give students knowledge and skills to reach their full potential.

Chapter 1 looks at the current school system in Africa, and outlines the focus areas for development, the objectives, and characteristics of a good school. Chapter 2 deals with the first of 3 identified focus areas - cognitive development: It talks about different stages of cognitive learning, their relation to current teaching methodology, as well as the methodology of a good school. Chapter 3 looks at social development: how to respect a child's dignity, foster their voice, and support development of personal discipline. The last chapter deals with ethical development: what constitutes ethical development, and how to foster and create it within the school system.