International Communications

Mark J. Hopkin's Mass Media in the Soviet Union (New York: Pogasus, $8.95)

Richard E. Wood's Shortwave Voices of the Torld (Gilfor Assoc., P.O. Box 239, Park Ridge, N.J. 07656, $6.35 hardback, $3.95 paperback

Heinz-Dietrich Fischer and John C. Morrill, International Communications: Media, Channels, Functions (Hasting, $12.95)     

University affiliation and the role of the university in the moderation of teaching practice in Botswana

The focus of the paper is on the way in which university affiliation can be used to improve the teaching practice component of teacher training programmes. The model of affiliation used by the University of Botswana is described, and a rationale is offered for procedures used to maintain and improve standards in affiliated institutions. The role of external examining is assessed, the term moderation is defined in the context of affiliation, and the procedures used to moderate teaching practice are scrutinised. Using the moderation reports and data relating to the period 1991–96, the principal issues that have arisen are reviewed and analysed, and their significance is assessed. An evaluation of some of the main outcomes, in terms of the impact made on the affiliated institutions, is then undertaken, in tandem with the way in which experience has brought about modifications made to the moderation procedures. A resume´ is offered of the principal lessons learned to date, and how the University of Botswana model could be replicated. Finally, attention is given to the value of the University of Botswana experience to provide guidelines whereby universities could use a system of teaching practice moderation to raise standards and improve institutional practices in teacher training colleges.     

AID, education and development in Botswana: A qualitative analysis

This paper deals with aid and education in Botswana. Three research questions are posed: is Botswana favoured in terms of the aid it receives; are there features of Botswana that make it attractive to aid donors; and is Botswana a model to other developing countries in the way it uses aid? Data were obtained from published and other sources and from interviews with personnel working for aid agencies and Botswana working for the Government. The atypical nature of Botswana is considered: the answer to the first question is negative and positive to the last two. The lessons drawn from the investigation are that Botswana's performance in deploying aid is exemplary in many ways but that the country is being penalised for her own success. Some of the implications of this are explored and a case is made out for increasing aid to Botswana as it could then serve as an exemplar to the developing world in its use of aid.