Public education has expanded to serve large populations across the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Many nations in these regions are moving into a phase of public education in which a variety of factors are being identified as influencing the quality of public education and its ability to serve all children and adolescents. It has become evident that ethnic background, gender, religious affiliation, and ability/disability are important factors in who is served and how well the individual is served. The chapters in this volume, Book 8, of Research on Education in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East document and describe the status, success, and limitations of public education’s efforts at transformation. They provide points from which further research and practice might occur.

As the demand for education at all levels has increased, so have the models of meeting these increased demands for education. As in many other parts of the world, public education has expanded to serve large populations across the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Many nations in these regions have instituted mandates, policies, and frameworks intended to simultaneously increase access to public education opportunities as well as improve the quality of education provided and to address a wide populace. Because the increase in educational demand has occurred at all levels, these efforts often address various levels of education from early childhood through primary schooling, junior secondary and secondary schooling and into tertiary education. Efforts also have been made to increase participation in education by marginalized and/or special populations. The range of efforts is large with some focusing on involving migrants/immigrants/refugees in primary education while others aim at opening up choices at the university level. Recently, nations in the region have recognized the possibilities of digital learning (online learning) as cell phones and other widely used portable wireless devices have made it possible to sell the idea that one can learn from anywhere at any time. This widespread access to technology has made it possible for governments as well as private entities to expand learning opportunities even to populations previously unreached or to address difficult to reach sectors of the population. At the same time, the population itself has not only increased in numbers but in diversity. Maintaining quality through digital and other means of quick expansion of educational opportunities continues to be challenging if not problematic. Effects of Government Mandates and Policies on Public Education in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East is Book IX of the series, Research on Education in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Chapters document, describe and/or raise critical issues and/or questions resulting from government policies, mandates and frameworks intended to make available public education to an ever-growing populace while at the same time being mindful of improving quality of education being availed to an increasingly diverse populace.

The Enterprise of Education is Book IV of the research series, Research on Education in Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. This book examines the implications of rapid political, sociocultural, and economic change for the enterprise of education within particular countries in the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East—all of which have cultural ties. It provides a space for a critical dialogue about the impact of global issues on the enterprise of education in specific locales or regions within a specific country. Finally, the book identifies trends in the enterprise of education that are occurring across the regions. The Enterprise of Education draws from recent research, summarizing, interpreting, and making connections to address issues/questions that are central to the enterprise of education today in these three world regions. Among the specific questions/issues that are considered include the following: How is the enterprise of education addressing and including the needs of all children including those who are squatters, new immigrants, have special education needs, and who are voiceless in their society? What social structures in these regions mitigate against student learning, especially particular groups of students? What research methodologies enable us to investigate the enterprise of education in these world regions? What role does the learning environment play in schools? Who creates curriculum, and for what purposes? Which issues are found to a greater or lesser extent in education in other world regions? What role do parents play, in economic and social support of schools? How can teachers best be prepared for effective teaching?

The 14 chapters in this book address education policy as it is being implemented in three world regions, Africa, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. The diverse authors utilize original local data, interpreting it to describe policy development and implementation across a range of nations who share commonalities but also differences. The chapters begin with the premise that policy must respond to the needs of the citizenry and to the challenges faced by each society internally as well as globally. Meeting the challenge of frequently competing existing needs while addressing educational development to prepare for future needs, is an ongoing task for policymakers. The researchers authoring the book’s chapters are aware of competing challenges and of the need for frequent revision of educational policy as well as continuing support for its implementation. They base their conclusions and the implications offered on the data while taking into account the culture within which successful and appropriate policy must be implemented. The implications have relevance for any society in the world as diversity exists everywhere so all societies are experiencing challenges generated by our interdependence with each other.

This is Book V in the series, Research on Education in Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East. The series strives to encourage the presentation of evidence based investigations using data collected on site from the three world regions it considers. A strong focus is on data specific to a nation or to a region within a nation, as we recognize that nations are diverse, often encompassing regions with unique cultural and geographic characteristics. The data are rooted in the voices of individuals and communities. Such evidential data are analyzed and interpreted within the context of the complex human and natural environments from which they are derived. Chapters in the books within the series describe investigations that are part of an effort to continue the publication of an annual compilation of research studies in the three world regions upon which the series focuses. The series, therefore, indicates that the need to develop modern, self-sufficient, independent, and post-colonial societies is being balanced with the need to strengthen cultural values and identities within these three world regions. Book V in the series focuses on how the educational challenges found in these three world regions are addressed. The chapters specifically examine related recent research, identify useful investigative methodologies, identify accomplishments in meeting challenges, and consider unresolved challenges. The overarching questions presented below were derived from an analysis of the questions, methods, and conclusions presented in the studies appearing in this book. These overarching questions described here reflect the connections between educational issues that emerged in the 20thcentury and issues identified in the 21st century.

Providing a selection of papers presented at ICECE 2018, a biennial conference organised by the Early Childhood Education Program, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. The conference’s general theme was "Finding Alternative Approaches, Theories, Frameworks, and Practices of Early Childhood Education in the 21th Century." Distinct from other periods of time, the 21st century is characterised by so much knowledge -easy to access but hard to grasp, borderless and hyper-connected society mediated by the internet, high competitiveness -not only within a country but across countries, high mobility, and widening economic discrepancy as neoliberalism has strengthened its influence on every sector of human life. The children of today will face many things that have not yet been invented or discovered, sometimes beyond expectations. Scholars and teachers of early childhood education need to be aware of these astonishing changes. The way children and childhood are seen cannot stay the same, and so does the way children of this century are educated. The conference opened a discussion about finding alternative approaches, theories, and best practices of early childhood education for a rapidly changing and globalised society.