In this groundbreaking second edition of Learning as Development, Daniel A. Wagner transforms our understanding of international development by positioning learning at its core. Through a compelling global lens, Wagner demonstrates how education shapes both individual destinies and national futures, with real consequences for income, social mobility, health and well-being.
This new edition provides timely perspectives on education's role in an increasingly interconnected and challenged world. The work traces international development from pre-colonial times to today's learning equity movement, explores how people learn across different cultures and contexts, examines the intersection of education with critical global challenges including climate change, migration, civil conflict and new technologies, and presents cutting-edge research through vivid context-rich examples.
Essential reading for students, practitioners, and policymakers in education, human development, sociology, anthropology and global development, Wagner's analysis offers fresh insights into human potential for those who care about improving the lives of people across the globe.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Irina Bokova Introduction: Toward a New Understanding of Development PART I. Development 1. International Development 2. Human Development: A Life-Span Approach 3. Learning as Development PART II. Learning 4. Learning in Early Childhood 5. Children and Basic Skills 6. Youth and Adult Learning: Beyond the Classroom PART III. Educational Institutions 7. Schools and Schooling 8. Teachers and Pedagogies PART IV. Trends and Challenges 9. New Technologies: Problems and Prospects 10. Globalization, Demography, and the Environment 11. Measurement of Learning 12. Learning Equity: A New Agenda for Development Epilogue: The Challenges Ahead
About the Author :
Daniel A. Wagner is the UNESCO Chair in Learning and Literacy, and Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author or editor of more than 30 books and many other publications.
Review :
“With the second edition of Learning as Development, Professor Wagner greatly advances our knowledge and understanding of how to improve learning for all—especially for those who have been most marginalized, such as the poor, girls and women, Indigenous populations, migrants, and those impacted by climate change. It is especially welcome as the world moves towards implementing the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.”
Irina Bokova, Former Director-General, UNESCO
“Dan Wagner’s magnum opus covering learning and development (both international and life course development) is unparalleled in scope and depth and with case material from numerous cultures in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. The book is full of new ideas to improve education, and reduce poverty and inequality in low- income countries. Its comprehensive treatment of issues in international development guarantees its permanent value to experts or novices alike. This is a long-awaited book on educational development.”
Robert A. LeVine, Roy E. Larsen Professor Emeritus
“Dan Wagner is at once an exceptional teacher, a researcher, and a man of action. He uniquely combines scientific rigor with pragmatic intelligence. He has designed and successfully implemented a series of innovative educational programs in regions of the world marked by hardship. This revised edition will be an invaluable guide for all those who see education as the key to development.”
Daniel Andler, Academy of Moral and Political Sciences; Emeritus Professor, Sorbonne; Researcher, École Normale Supérieure (Paris), France
“As Pope Francis has stated, the fate of the world today depends on how we support the needs of the most disadvantaged among us, particularly those affected by migration and climate change. Dan Wagner has written a well-researched and comprehensive volume with critical insights on improving education that will help make a difference in the world today and tomorrow.”
Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, Chancellor, Pontifical Academy of Sciences, The Vatican
“Dan Wagner’s thorough understanding of education in low- and middle-income countries is evident in his compelling argument about the relationship between learning and development, as well as the connection between learning equity and social justice. For Latin America, this book provides invaluable insights into transforming education, particularly for disadvantaged groups in poorer countries, to overcome learning inequity and advance toward quality education for all. This second edition of Learning as Development is an indispensable book for educators worldwide.”
Sylvia Schmelkes, Former Academic Vice President and Director of the Research Institute for the Development of Education of Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico
“Learning as Development is a great read. The depth of discussion and the literature it draws on has a wealth of resources. My students really need this in order to critically reflect on what we can (and cannot) achieve through the SDGs. Thumbs up for this excellent book!”
Moses Oketch, Professor, Institute of Education, University College London, UK
“This is a refreshing, accessible volume that combines scholarship with thoughtful descriptions of learning from many cultures; it humanizes and broadens the discussion of education and development.”
Marlaine Lockheed, World Bank and Center for Global Development
“Excellent! It is time to walk the talk! The time has come for rethinking and rebuilding the learning process worldwide. This incisive and thoughtful book strikes an important balance between research and practice, and should be read by policy makers as well as those who engage in the everyday critical work of education and development.”
Adama Samassekou, Minister of Education, Mali
“In this second edition, Professor Dan Wagner continues his long career in both studying and making a difference for children’s learning and literacy. His work in India began in my home state of Andhra Pradesh three decades ago, and continues in India to this day. His credibility in his domains of expertise is widely recognized with national governments, non-profits, and international agencies. I’m certain that this new edition will continue to foster educational improvements around the world.
I. V. Subba Rao, Former Secretary to the Vice-President of India; Former Chief of Literacy and Non-Formal Education, UNESCO, Paris; Former Principal Secretary, School Education; Government of Andhra Pradesh, India
Praise from the First Edition (2018):
Learning as Development by Daniel Wagner could be the most comprehensive, book-length monograph [in over 3 decades] to address the relationship between education and "development." Wagner’s audacious attempt is to reorient readers toward development in non-economic and non-institutional terms by discussing "individual learners and their context." The book focuses on the poor and marginalized, arriving just in time for the vigorous debates about education for sustainability. The text has the virtue of using simple and clear terms quite accessible to the undergraduate student reader and on-the-job teaching or service personnel, as well as to those more experienced in the study of the field. The discussion is pertinently centered on the educational fortunes of the poor and marginalized in developing countries and puts to good use both the author’s great breadth of personal experience and an ample trove of data, literature references, charts, and graphs. Wagner has thus written the first book in decades to present such a wide-ranging synthesis of learning in comparative and international contexts and as a key to progress. The volume is scholarly, with a reference list of over 800 titles, 500 footnotes, dozens of figures and graphics, and a dense, 10-page index. In summary, Learning as Development seems to us a landmark attempt to begin building a new vision for the international development education field. It moves the discussion well forward and offers both trenchant observations about a variety of individual learning subjects and a wealth of relevant resources.― David Post, Penn State University and Peter Easton, Florida State University, in the Comparative Education Review.
In Learning as development Wagner builds the case for the importance of learning and education through a series of issue-oriented chapters, beginning with the troubled history of colonialism and empire building. Empire builders generally did not understand or acknowledge local values and modes of living, and often assumed they had the right (or duty) to dominate peoples whom they saw as less fortunate. Too often, the result for many people has been poverty and an increasing gap between the rich and the poor. Wagner discusses the traditional roles of economists, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, and psychologists, pointing out both the shortcomings and the contributions of each, and stressing the need for solutions that focus on human development and that extend beyond the limits of any particular discipline. The most important chapter may be the one dealing with globalization and environment. Here, Wagner shows the compelling relation between education and environmental vulnerability and sustainability, including the fact that climate change disasters have already produced degradation of education in a number of developing countries. Poverty, he argues, replicates itself from one generation to the next, and it is learning that holds the promise of improved life quality. Wagner has assembled a readable, wide-ranging array of empirical sources that, taken together, help to illuminate both the promise and the problems associated with learning in developing countries.―Kenneth D. Keith, University of San Diego, in the American Journal of Psychology.
In Learning as Development: Rethinking International Education in a Changing World, …Wagner notes that in international agencies, economists have played the leading role in designing development policies and programs. In contrast to economic criteria, he proposes foregrounding educational outcomes as the yardstick for determining a country’s success and, in poor countries, their progress towards development. … The chapters present a scholarly look at how international agencies approach education and how…this might be improved. Students, researchers, policymakers, and other interested readers will find current statistics, citations, and extensive annotations accompanying each chapter. In this sense, Learning as Development is an important reference for understanding current trends in development and education policies in the international arena. ― Judy Kalman and Roberto Méndez-Arreola, Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Mexico, in Educational Review.
I think this is an excellent text with wide appeal. … I could envision using this text as a foundational volume across my undergraduate and post-graduate courses. ... Wagner highlights how the lenses of economics, sociology, political science, psychology, anthropology, and interdisciplinarity frame development programs and problems as well as the possibilities for solutions. [O]verall the text includes a rich description of many foundational ideas and approaches to education and international development. The detailed endnotes at the back of every chapter are very beneficial; some readers may even want to keep one finger in the endnotes to attain as much insight as possible. All things considered, I believe the scope and focus of this text is a remarkable feat for an introductory text. - Matthew A. M. Thomas, University of Sydney, in Journal of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies
Learning as Development… offers a comprehensive review of major issues related to education in developing countries, with a particular focus on lifelong learning among the most marginalized people. Wagner draws on his deep experience in international education research, policy, and practice, proposing a new approach to international development work that centers not on economic growth but on human development, measured through learning. This book is a useful resource for students and scholars of international education and development. At a time defined by rising temperatures and growing inequality, Wagner rethinks international development, centering it not around economic growth but, rather, human development driven by learning. His is a timely message and one with important implications for education development that supports life-long learning for individuals and communities around the world. - Celia Reddick, Harvard University, in Harvard Educational Review
Wagner achieves an impressive, well-referenced overview of many of the pressing issues related to learning when considered on a global scale… [Learning as Development] appears to be directed at graduate students of international education, offering as it does an overview of a range of related issues together with copious evidence for the arguments made, but it would equally be enlightening reading for policymakers seriously interested in learning equity – within or across nations... The main strength of the book, … is that it repeatedly stresses the need for individual jurisdictions – and communities within those - to develop their own priorities for learning, including through local languages so central to identity, access and empowerment. - Jennie Golding, University College London - Institute of Education, in London Review of Education
