Angela W. Little is

Professor Emerita ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at the

Institute of Education The UCL Institute of Education (IOE) is the faculty of education and society of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior t ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. She is known for her work in primary education policy and practice in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

as well as education planning, program evaluation and assessment. In particular she has focussed in seven main areas: *

Education for All The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, scien ...

and the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

* Multigrade education * Globalisation and education * Qualifications, motivation and aspirations * Education in Sri Lanka * Education in China * Education and development She has been adviser to various governmental, multilateral and non-profit organisations on education policy, planning and evaluation, including SIDA, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

DFID The Department for International Development (DFID) was a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom, from 1997 to 2020. It was responsible for administering foreign aid ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

ILO The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

, the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

AusAid Australian Aid is the brand name used to identify projects in developing countries supported by the Australian Government. As of 2014 the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been responsible for Australia's official development ...

and others. Her country experience includes work in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, Japan and China. Little was Professor of Education and

International Development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

at the Institute of Education, University of London between 1987 and 2010. She was previously a

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

of the

Institute of Development Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

at the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

. Little is

Honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

Zhejiang University Zhejiang University (ZJU) is a public university, public research university in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and D ...

and

Flinders University Flinders University, established as The Flinders University of South Australia is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across a number of locations in South Australia and ...

, advisory professor at

East China Normal University East China Normal University (ECNU) is a public university in Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. The university is part of ...

and

Honorary Fellow Honorary titles (professor, president, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as ...

at the University of Sussex. She is a founding member of the London International Development Centre. She chairs the International advisory group for the Young Lives

longitudinal study A longitudinal study (or longitudinal survey, or panel study) is a research design that involves repeated observations of the same variables (e.g., people) over long periods of time (i.e., uses longitudinal data). It is often a type of observationa ...

of 12,000 children in

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. She is a member of the

Academy of Social Sciences The Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) is a representative body for social sciences in the United Kingdom. The academy promotes social science through its sponsorship of the Campaign for Social Science, its links with Government on a variety of m ...

and trustee of the United Kingdom Forum on International Education and Training. Little is the author and/or editor of numerous books and monographs, six special journal issues, many journal articles, book chapters and reports. She has been involved in the direction of two films – The Diploma Disease (with

Ronald Dore Ronald Philip Dore (1 February 1925 – 14 November 2018) was a British sociologist specialising in Japanese economy and society and the comparative study of types of capitalism. He was an associate of the Centre for Economic Performance at t ...

, released 1982) and The Qualification Chase (1996)

Biography

Little was born in

Douglas, Isle of Man Douglas (, ) is the Capital (political), capital city and largest settlement of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,677 (2021) and an area of . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, Isle of Man, River Douglas, and on a sweepi ...

in 1949. She attended the

Rushen Rushen ( ; ), formally Kirk Christ Rushen, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man. It is located in the south of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of the same name. Administrat ...

Primary School and the Castle Rushen High School, one of the first

comprehensive schools A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

in Britain. From 1968 to 1971 she read

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

Surrey University The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institutio ...

where she graduated with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

degree. She went to volunteer as a teacher of mathematics with

Voluntary Service Overseas VSO is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact through a blended volunteer model c ...

Ijebu Ode Ijebu-Ode is a town in Ogun State, South Western geopolitical zone in Nigeria, close to the A121 highway. The city is located 110 km by road Northeast of Lagos; it is within of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of Ogun State and po ...

, Nigeria. Subsequently, she attended the

and the University of Sussex to embark on a career in education and

international development International development or global development is a broad concept denoting the idea that societies and countries have differing levels of economic development, economic or human development (economics), human development on an international sca ...

Contributions to education and development

Little is well known in the field of international and comparative education for her approach to

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that s ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

perspectives alongside the

structural A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

approaches of sociology and economics. This involves questioning conventional behavioural assumptions in the

used in analysing the processes of policy formulation and implementation, particularly at the levels of international agenda-setting and national adoption. The approach is perhaps best illustrated in her extensive body of work around '

Education For All The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, scien ...

' – a goal in whose pursuit Little has invested considerable intellectual and professional endeavour. Little adopts an inter-disciplinary perspective, drawing concepts from development studies, social psychology, economics and sociology yet rooted in observation, experience and insight at the

grass roots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

level. Her analyses emphasises

alongside

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

, resisting an approach implicit in much comparative work which subordinates the personal, local and national to the universal and global and assumes North-South conceptual transferability, paying little attention to context. Little views the interactions in the process of learning from the perspective of the learner and those in the process of development from the perspective of the actors and structural forces at the local and national levels. Her 1988 inaugural professorial lecture, ''Learning from Developing Countries'', encapsulates the key tenets of her approach and remains both an influential contribution to the field and a key frame of reference for her own work. In the 1994 book ''Beyond Jomtien: Implementing Primary Education for All'', Little presents a range of initiatives from the 1970s and 80s which pre-dated the 1990 World Conference on

(WCEFA) in Jomtien to universalise access to primary schooling, reminding followers of educational development that donor-led initiatives are only part of the

story. Her 1999 book, ''Labouring to Learn: towards a political economy of education and plantations in Sri Lanka'', combines historical perspective with the seldom heard voice of Indian

Plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tob ...

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

in Sri Lanka, unravelling their long and painstaking road to

universal education Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities. The term is used both in colle ...

al access over a period of a century and a half. Little's 2006 book, ''Education for All and Multigrade Teaching: challenges and opportunities'', traces the development of the current form and universal ideal of monograded teaching and argues that the de facto form of schooling for millions of learners and their teachers worldwide continues to be multigraded. She argues that the

movement, alongside national governments, have ignored and continue to neglect this reality. Little argues for a radical reorientation of curriculum development and

teacher education Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

in recognition of multigrade systems in the pursuit of

. Little challenges assumptions in

Human Capital Theory Human capital or human assets is a concept used by economists to designate personal attributes considered useful in the production process. It encompasses employee knowledge, skills, know-how, good health, and education. Human capital has a subs ...

about education and

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

and about motivations for education and learning in her studies of learners and workers in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and

. She examines approaches to academic success and failure from across the social sciences, setting them against notions held by learners in a comparative study in the UK and

. Her work on motivation theory challenges the relationships assumed by the Diploma Disease thesis between

intrinsic motivation Motivation is an internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. It i ...

and

extrinsic motivation Motivation is an internal state that propels individuals to engage in goal-directed behavior. It is often understood as a force that explains why people or animals initiate, continue, or terminate a certain behavior at a particular time. It i ...

. Little's work on the globalisation of education questions the

neo-liberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

orthodoxy and addresses the neglected but central role of context in the determination of costs and benefits, by way of case studies covering China,

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

Publications

; Selected books * 2007,
Education and Development in a Global Era: successful strategies for globalisation
', (with A. Green, S. Kamat, M. Oketch, E.Vickers), DFID, Researching the Issues no 69, London (co-editor with Andy Green and contributor), 2007 * 2006, ''Education for All and Multigrade Teaching: challenges and opportunities'', Springer, Dordrecht (editor and contributor), 2006 * 2003,
Education for All: Policy and planning lessons from Sri Lanka
', Researching the Issues, no 46, DFID, London * 2003, ''Primary Education Reform in Sri Lanka'', Isurupaya, Ministry of Education and Higher Education Publications Department (sole editor and contributor), 2000 (Sinhala and Tamil editions published in 2003) * 1999, ''Labouring to Learn: towards a political economy of education and plantations in Sri Lanka'', Basingstoke, Macmillan Press (English edition), * 1999, ''Education, Cultures and Economics: dilemmas for development'', New York and London: Falmer Press, (co-editor with Fiona Leach and contributor), * 1996, ''Assessment in Transition: Learning, Monitoring and Selection in International Perspective'', Pergamon, Oxford (co-editor with Alison Wolf and contributor). * 1994, ''Educational Innovation in China: tracing the impact of the 1985 Reform'' (with Keith Lewin, Xu Hui and Zheng Ji Wei), Longman. * 1994, ''Beyond Jomtien: Implementing Primary Education for All'' (co-editor with W, Hoppers and R. Gardner and contributor) Macmillan. * 1987, ''Why do Students Learn? A Six Country Study of Student Motivation'', Institute of Development Studies Research Report, Series Rr17, Sussex (sole editor and contributor). ; Selected book chapters * 2012, "Educational Progress among the Indian Tamil Minority in the Plantations of Sri Lanka", in Sleeter, C. et al. (eds.), ''School Education, Pluralism and Marginality: comparative perspectives'', New Delhi, Orient Blackswan Private Limited. * 2007, "Globalisation, Learning and Teaching" in S.Ali and M Rizvi (eds.), ''Quality in Education: teaching and learning in challenging times'', Karachi: the Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development. * 2007, ''Paradoxes of Economic and Social Development in Sri Lanka: the Wages of Civil War'', in A. Green, A.W.Little, S. Kamat, M.Oketch and E Vickers, ''Education and Development in a Global Era: successful strategies for globalisation'', DFID, Researching the Issues, no 69, London. * 2003, "Access and achievement in Commonwealth countries: support for learning and teaching in multigrade classrooms", in Matlin, S. (ed.) ''Commonwealth Education Partnerships'' London, TSO, 2003 ; Selected journal articles * 2011, "Education policy reform in Sri Lanka: the double-edged sword of political will", ''Journal of Education Policy'', 26 (4). pp. 499–512. * 2011, Guest Editor of special issue on "The Policies, Politics and Progress of Access to Basic Education", ''Journal of Education Policy'', 26 (4) (Editorial with Keith Lewin pp. 477–482). * 2011, Guest Editor of special issue on "Access, Equity and Transitions in Education in Low Income Countries", ''International Journal of Educational Development'', (editorial with Keith M Lewin), 2011 * 2010 (with others), "The Millennium Development Goals -a cross sectoral analysis and principles for goal setting post 2015", ''The Lancet'', Sept 2010 * 2010, "International and Comparative Education: what’s in a name?", ''Compare'', 40 (6), pp. 845–852. * 2009 (with Andy Green), "Successful Globalisation, Education and Sustainable Development", ''International Journal of Educational Development'', Vol 29, 2, pp. 166–174. * 2008 (with Ricardo Sabates), "Economic Globalisation, Youth Expectations and Social Class: the case of Sri Lanka", International Journal of Educational Development, Vol 28, 708–722. *2008,
Primary Care, Public Service
, ''Review: International Development'' Issue 12, December. * 2007 (with Jane Evans), "The role of UK qualification suppliers in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe: a comparative evaluation", ''International Journal of Educational Development'', 27 (5), pp. 525–541. * 2005 (with Jane Evans), "The growth of foreign qualification suppliers in Sri Lanka: de facto decentralisation?" ''Compare'', 35 (2), 181–192. * 2003, "Motivating Learning and the Development of Human Capital", ''Compare'', 33 (4), 437–452. * 2001, Special issue of the International Journal of Educational Development on the theme of Multigrade Teaching, 21 (6) (guest editor) * 2000, "Development Studies and Comparative Education: context, content, comparison and contributors", Special number Comparative Education for the twenty first century, Comparative Education, 36 (3). * 1992, "Learning and Working: elements of the Diploma Disease thesis examined in England and Malaysia" (with J Sarjit Singh) ''Comparative Education'', 28, pp 181–200. ; Selected monographs * 2011,
Access, Attendance and Achievement in Rural Schools in Sri Lanka
(with H.N.Upul Indika and C. Rolleston) CREATE Pathways to Access Research Monograph No 73, London/Sussex, 2011 * 2010,
The Politics, Policies and Progress of Basic Education in Sri Lanka
', CREATE Research Monograph No. 38, London/Sussex. * 2010,
Access to Elementary Education in India: politics, policies and progress
', CREATE Research Monograph No. 44. London/Sussex. * 2010,
Access to Basic Education in Ghana: politics, policies and progress
', CREATE Research Monograph No. 43, London/Sussex. * 2008,
Education for All: politics, policies and progress
', CREATE Research Monograph, no 13, pp 95. * 2004,
Learning and teaching in multigrade settings
', Background paper for UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005 * 1988,
Learning from Developing Countries: An Inaugural Lecture
' Institute of Education, University of London, 1988 * 1982,
Examination Reform and Educational Change in Sri Lanka, 1972–1982: Modernisation or Dependent Underdevelopment?
', Institute of Development Studies Discussion Paper D180, 1982 ; Selected articles in popular press:
Bid for better world starts here
by Chloe Stothart and Jessica Shephard, article mentions Angela Little, Times Higher Education Magazine, 9 March 2007
Where the sums add up to a way out of poverty
– A review of Angela Little's book, ''Labouring to Learn'', Times Higher Education Magazine, 19 May 2000
Global vision takes seed in plantation schools
– Times Higher Education Magazine, 21 April 2000
Reaching For The Top
– new internationalist 122, April 1983

Collections

The

holds a collection of books and pamphlets collected during the course of Little's research on Sri Lankan education. The collection was donated to the Institute by Little in 2006.

References

External links

Professor Angela Little's personal website

* – 2009 recording of Angela Little discussing multigrade schooling * – recording of 2010 lecture where Angela Little shows how MDG2's aim of universal primary education overlooks the complexity of improving education. * – recording of Angela Little giving her 1988 inaugural lecture on 'Learning from Developing Countries' at the Institute for Education, University of London.
LIDC-ONE debate: research and advocacy can lead to better development policies
– audio recording of discussion with Angela Little, Chris Whitty an
development advocate
Jamie Drummond
Angela Little Collection
at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Angela Living people Development specialists British educational theorists People in international development Alumni of the University of Sussex 1949 births Academics of the UCL Institute of Education Alumni of the University of Surrey Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London People from Douglas, Isle of Man