Improving Students’ Learning Aspirations Beyond Post-Primary Education: A First Account of Two Non-Formal Education Programmes in Middle-Income

Non-formal education programmes are active in a number of developing countries. These programmes offer vulnerable students an opportunity to pursue their education although they were excluded for various reasons from the formal education systems. This paper examines the impact of two programmes (one in Mauritius, and one in Thailand) on their participants’ aspirations towards learning. We develop a methodology to measure the perception of students regarding their learning experience. More than a third of them, for example, believe that there is no barrier to their education. Most acknowledge the role of their teachers in raising their aspirations towards their educational achievement. When compared to male students, female students seem to value more the role of their education.

Lead Miners’ Earnings in 19th Century Allendale

This paper uses the records of the Beaumont/Blackett lead mining concerns in Allendale to examine the earnings for lead miners in the early 1860‟s. The paper matches two parts of the historical record, the Bargain books and the quarterly financial accounts, to give a more complete picture of the earnings of this group of workers than has previously been done. The paper also examines aspects of the setting of the rates in the bargains by the mine owner‟s agents.