The Challenge of Multiage Primary Education in Public Education

The book examines the development of multiage
education in public education. Multiage education
can be defined as children of different ages
intentionally placed together for the purpose of
enhanced education through a child-centred approach.
The international and comparative cross national
study involved three countries, Australia, Canada
and the USA, which all introduced multiage education
into the public education system in the 1990s, a
period when the notion of multiage education became
widely popular in the Western world. Findings
revealed strikingly similar political intentions
underpinning the introduction of multiage education
in these three countries. The different educational
effects of multiage education were highlighted in
those societies, together with solutions that
governments sought to address by its introductions
were committed to maintaining economic stability,
social order and cultural cohesion.

Autorentext

Yukiyo Nishida has completed her doctorate in primary education at the University of Oxford and worked at the University of London, Institute of Education as a researcher. She has worked on primary education programmes in various locations in Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA.

Klappentext

The book examines the development of multiage education in public education. Multiage education can be defined as children of different ages intentionally placed together for the purpose of enhanced education through a child-centred approach. The international and comparative cross national study involved three countries, Australia, Canada and the USA, which all introduced multiage education into the public education system in the 1990s, a period when the notion of multiage education became widely popular in the Western world. Findings revealed strikingly similar political intentions underpinning the introduction of multiage education in these three countries. The different educational effects of multiage education were highlighted in those societies, together with solutions that governments sought to address by its introductions were committed to maintaining economic stability, social order and cultural cohesion.