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This special issue is the third collection of papers Compare has published from the 2003 UKFIET/Oxford conference on The State of Education: Quantity, Quality and Outcomes . The papers presented here were originally given in the Education and Decentralisation symposium organised by Caroline Dyer, Mark Poston and David Theobald, and in the Michael Crossley and Keith Holmes symposium on Culture, Context and the Quality of Education . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores progress in designing and implementing privatisation and decentralisation reforms in the education sector, which have become increasingly advocated by international agencies over the past two decades. Privatisation can be considered one of the organisational forms of decentralisation – indicating a transfer of authority and responsibility from government to private hands. However, in national policy, the reforms are often considered independently of each other. Importantly, evidence from Malawi indicates that there are differences in implementation of the reforms. Decentralisation is taking place by design, but progressing slowly as the central government seeks to maintain control over the education sector. By contrast, private schools have been rapidly expanding by default in some areas of Malawi, paradoxically resulting in a shift in control away from the central government, with potential adverse consequences for educational quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explores the extent to which publicly-stated policy commitments towards community participation in education are realized in Malawi. Motivation for participation; Need to encourage local ownership and accountability; Marketization or entrenchment of individual responsibility for meeting social needs.