In contrast to mainstream historiography, secularisation was not a distinct process in nineteenth-century Europe, since the century was a period of religious revival. In the late nineteenth century, in spite of weakening church attendance and rising agnosticism brought on by urbanisation and migration, religion remained attractive for the middle class and social movements related to church membership emerged in politics. In this chapter the diversity of religion in Europe is treated. The author distinguishes between hierarchical and nonhierarchical types of Christian churches, and between four religious regions in Europe. This situation had effects on the relationship between state and religion.
Recent progress towards the achievement of the second U.N. Millennium Development Goal, Universal Primary Education (UPE), means that many more children are completing primary education and looking for opportunities to enter secondary education. There is little likelihood that governments facing the challenges of meeting the UPE target will be able to meet a further challenge of providing vastly increased access to opportunities for secondary education. Rapid expansion of secondary provision to meet frustrated demand from primary school leavers and the needs of young adults previously denied secondary education opportunities will likely require investment in approaches that are less tied to traditional methods of schooling. It is within this context that this study has been conceived. "Open Schooling for Secondary and Higher Education" explores the provision of secondary level Open Schooling in India and Namibia, which are vastly different in their basic characteristics. The study examines on the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) in India and the Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL). The focus is on issues such as cost-benefit of the open school model, student profiles, how open schools complement the formal system, learner success, course development, open school management and quality assurance. The study was carried out by two experts in the field, Professor Badri N. Koul, who researched NIOS, and Professor Greville Rumble, who researched NAMCOL, between April and October 2007.
IT IS NOW GENERALLY ACCEPTED THAT WESTERN EUROPEAN DEMOCRACIES HAVE EXHIBITED THE TENDENCY OF SECTORISED OR SEGMENTED POLICY-MAKING. IN THE BRITISH CASE THE CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF SECTORISATION WAS PROVIDED BY THE LATE LORD BOYLE WHEN HE DESCRIBED THE NATURE OF THE EDUCATION POLICY PROCESS-NAMELY THAT THE STARTING POINT FOR EDUCATION POLICY WAS IN THE EDUCATIONAL WORLD ITSELF; A VIEW CONFIRMED BY A FORMER LABOUR SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EDUCATION, THE LATE ANTHONY CROSLAND. ALTHOUGH SOME STRAINS HAVE BEEN NOTED IN FARMER-STATE RELATIONS, IT REMAINS THE CASE THAT MUCH AGRICULTURAL POLICY OWES ITS ORIGINS TO THE AGRICULTURE POLICY COMMUNITY - PRIMARILY, IF NO LONGER EXCLUSIVELY, DOMINATED BY THE NFU. THE PHENOMENON OF SECTORISATION IS BY NO MEANS SOLELY A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE BRITISH POLITICAL SYSTEM.
