Do monitoring and evaluation tools, designed to measure the improvement in the quality of primary education, constrain or enhance educational development?

A learner-centred view of education argues that the learner's needs must be understood and the learner must be engaged within the learning process. Governments advocate 'learner-centred' approaches whilst introducing national strategies and systems to reach agreed standards and competencies, often globally determined. There are increasing pressures on organisations to provide evidence that the quality of education is improving. Defining quality education and how it is measured has been the focus of much discussion. This paper contributes to the discussion by focussing on the measurement of the teaching and learning process in an Education Quality Improvement Project implemented in Cambodia. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.