Alexanders Five Culture study provides a seemingly comprehensive guide to the assessment and comparison of a variety of mass education systems in different parts of the world. The study starts by providing a definition of culture and its relationship with education. Culture is principally reflected in the distribution of authority, the mission statement, goals and the curriculum. The institution of school is a delivery system of values hence its political significance. The Indian environment can be most readily correlated with the Ghana system. Both are ex-colonial and have difficulty with educational resourcing associated with poverty while the culture remains strongly influenced by traditional (social) values.

Although each of the five nations has its own particular approach to schooling and education, there is sufficient similarity between them to allow Alexander to derive a framework for comparison and a valid methodology; all systems are focused on the idea of knowledge acquisition through classrooms and teachers. In terms of cultural analysis beyond the classroom much of this framework could be applied to my own study. However, the method falls short in relation to the internal comparison of the formal/monitorial methods and a SOLE environment focused on out-doctrination (Mitra); in the absence of a school and a teacher, culture/values are allowed to emerge spontaneously through social interaction between students as opposed to the imposition (indoctrination) of the formal system. In other words, breakdown of classroom functions (activities, tasks and resulting dialog) following a predined plan is not relevant to the SOLE, consequently Alexanders design is not appropraite for in-classroom comparison.

In order to derive a suitable comparative methodology, the researcher needs to understand the theory that underpins learning within the SOLE. In the absence of a theory, the epistemology would be considered inductive i.e an hypothesis would emerge from the research environment. In the meantime, neo-Vygotskian writers and articles will provide the basis for the latest part of the Lit Review in search of theoretical pointers. Reviews to date consistently indicate that student collaboration is a positive classroom phenomena, however all have been structured in some way in order to maximise cognitive outcomes; dedicated software, teacher scaffolding, pre-teaching to promote interpretive questioning. Both Piaget and Vygotsky insist that real learning requires a careful planning of activities and tasks beyond simply grouping children together, a belief that is challenged by the SOLE. Assessment i.e discourse analysis, is further complicated by the specific nature of a learning environment where little in known about the cultural values and the social language is Fanti.