ABSTRACT
The goal of balancing the imperatives of educational expansion and improvement has proven to be elusive in Nicaragua, as in other societies. Over the past thirteen years, two dramatically different political regimes have attempted to extend schooling to the mass of Nicaraguan society and gear education to the ends of political legitimation and national development. The intended educational reforms of these regimes, during the period 1979-1992, have reflected diametrically opposed models of development, views of democracy, and conceptions of the appropriate aims, content, and methods of schooling. Despite opposing views and approaches, both the government of the Sandinista National Liberation Front (July 1979-April 1990) and the National Opposition Union (post April 1990) have found transforming inherited education systems an almost intractable problem.
