Reimagining Development Education in Africa 3030960005, 9783030960001

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Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong David Addae John Kwame Boateng   Editors

Reimagining Development Education in Africa

Reimagining Development Education in Africa

Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong · David Addae · John Kwame Boateng Editors

Reimagining Development Education in Africa

Editors Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong School of Continuing and Distance Education University of Ghana Legon, Accra, Ghana John Kwame Boateng Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies University of Ghana Legon, Accra, Ghana

David Addae Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies University of Ghana Legon, Accra, Ghana Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education University of South Africa Pretoria, South Africa

ISBN 978-3-030-96000-1 ISBN 978-3-030-96001-8 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

Foreword

Only once in a while does a book on Development Education (DE) collect such a valuable variety of perspectives from the Global South. Reimagining Development Education in Africa is such a book. It can best be described as rigorous yet accessible. There are more valuable perspectives pigeonholed into its 14 chapters than seen in most books three times its size. Thus it gives me a great pleasure to contribute this foreword. DE, as conceptualized in this book, is an approach to teaching and learning that critically interrogates dominant paradigms of development, a forward-looking educational framework aimed at enhancing students’ values and knowledge such as critical cognisance and inclusive self/identity. As I write somewhere else (See Bosio, 20211 ; Giroux & Bosio, 20212 ), DE (along with notions of global citizenship education and sustainable development education) promotes a reorientation of learners’ responsibilities, towards an orientation that adheres to the belief that knowing without acting is insufficient. Yet, most of the previous literature on DE suffers from a prevailing focus on North America and parts of Western Europe. Fortunately, in the last ten years, there has been a necessary de-colonial shift in DE. This shift brought to the foreground new discussions about knowledge, values, understanding, and ethics more inspired to/by social justice (Torres & Bosio, 20203 ), critical and transformative theories (Bosio & Torres, 20194 ) but also notions of living philosophy informed, for instance, by the thoughts of the French philosopher Jacques Ranciere (Waghid 1

Bosio, E. (Ed.). (2021a). Conversations on global citizenship education: Perspectives on research, teaching, and learning in higher education. Routledge. 2 Giroux, H. A., & Bosio, E. (2021). Critical pedagogy and global citizenship education. In E. Bosio (Ed.), Conversations on global citizenship education: Perspectives on research, teaching, and learning in higher education (pp. 1–10). Routledge. 3 Torres, C. A., Bosio, E. (2020). Global citizenship education at the crossroads: Globalization, global commons, common good, and critical consciousness. Prospects 48, 99–113. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11125-019-09458-w 4 Bosio, E., & Torres, C. A. (2019). Global citizenship education: An educational theory of the common good? A conversation with Carlos Alberto Torres. Policy Futures in Education ,17 (6), 745–760. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210319825517 v

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et al., 20205 ). In this context, the DE field has been calling for more scrutiny to be paid to cases in the Global South. This book, therefore, meets an urgent need. It brings together a wide range of educational thinkers—some deeply entrenched in philosophical thoughts, others expertly engaged in specific programmes and practices, and yet others who discuss the wider social context of DE in Africa—reflected in the present international interest in global and local citizenship. The value of this book is enhanced by the Africancentred (rather than Western-centric) nature of the contributions. The different local contexts of the arguments do not only disguise the international nature of the problems. Indeed, they indicate the universality of the issues. Moreover, this book is more than a collection of chapters covering a range of topics on DE. There is a distinctive story to be told throughout. That story is precisely that DE embraces throughout the teaching and learning experiences of young learners the broader view of what it means to develop as a person. Additionally, such development embraces feelings as well as thoughts, dispositions to act as well as knowledge of right actions, a sense of community as well as individual autonomy, social sensitivity as well as individual flourishing. As the editors indicate in their introduction, the book attempts ‘to move away from the dominance of Western philosophies in the conceptualization of development education, to explore how indigenous African knowledge, philosophies, traditions, beliefs, practices and values shape the theory and practice of development education in Africa’. In this perspective, this book positions the discussion around DE in Africa within a critical and de-colonial paradigm informed by the values and knowledge of critical pedagogy ingrained in social justice. It invites readers to appreciate DE as about more than a ‘voguish synonym’ for international learning outcomes because it should be a forward-looking framework potentially oriented towards the common good, which can make a significant difference in creating a society that has greater justice, respect for human dignity, and general well-being. When discussed in this perspective, DE may inspire ’pedagogy of hope’ (Freire, 19946 ) or a pedagogy of value through the application of which schools, universities, and educators may validate what they have not yet deserted in the ‘lifeworld’ or become ignorant of political and moral questions. In this view, this book is designed with the intent to contribute towards the possibility of imagining a more inclusive, critical, transformative, post/de-colonial DE beyond a westernized, market-oriented, and apolitical practices towards a more sustainable paradigm based on the principles of empathy and reciprocity. Hence, the book proposes theoretically and practically grounded chapters from scholars sharing their perspectives about DE in relation to research, teaching, and learning in 5

Wagid, Y., Davids, N., Mathebula, T., Terblanche, J., Higgs, P., Shawa, L. Manthalu, C. H., Wagbid, Z., Nigwenya, C., Divala, J. Wagbid, F. Peters M. A., & Tesar, M. (2020). Philosophy of education in a new key: Cultivating a living philosophy of education to overcome coloniality and violence in African universities. Educational Philosophy and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020. 1793714 6 Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogy of hope: Reliving pedagogy of the oppressed (Robert R. Barr, Trans.). Continuum.

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Africa. Specifically, the book addresses key themes around DE. For example, educators’ perceptions of key essential knowledge, skills, and values that students should be helped to develop through DE but also the pedagogical approaches to educators located in Africa employ in their classes. There are also interesting references to how DE educators support the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes of global citizenship in curriculum areas. To examine these and other related themes, this book invites readers to unique perspectives, challenges, and strategies for constructing and implementing an African-centred DE that would help students to gain socio-political efficacy and a sense of emancipation. Collectively, the book focuses on the full range of possible theoretical, curricular, and pedagogical responses to current societal challenges in Africa (e.g., including gender equality, indigenous knowledge, glocalization, balancing individualism and collectivism, dispossession, community development and literacy), and thus it reflexively scrutinizes the intricacies that typify the notion of a DE in the ‘Mother Continent’. Mandela’s (19947 , p. 95) Long Walk to Freedom reads: I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, and a thousand unremembered moments produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people.

Mandela’s understanding of personal growth and individual learning orientation is a moving reminder that education, particularly DE, is not some ‘transcendent heroic activity’. Rather, as the scholars in this book dovetail rigorously, teaching and learning is about those small and punctuated classroom pedagogic activities that cohere to make knowledge meaningful and valuable. Reimagining Development Education in Africa is a book that should not only be on the desk of all scholars, but also on the desk of all policy makers and government officials. It provides a superb insight into DE from an African-centred perspective. Emiliano Bosio, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Education Toyo University Bunkyo City, Japan Guest Editor UNESCO Prospects, Comparative Journal of Curriculum, Learning, and Assessment Genève, Switzerland Research Committee Member Centre for Global Nonkilling (CGNK) Honolulu, USA

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Mandela, N. (1994). Long walk to freedom. Abacus, a Division of Little, Brown and Company.

Contents

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Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong, David Addae, and John Kwame Boateng

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Theorising the Concept of Development Education from African Centred Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . John Kwame Boateng and Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong

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Decolonizing African Development Education Through Indigenous Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Delali Amuzu

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Balancing Individualism and Collectivism: A Conversation on Afrocentricity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . David Addae and Janet McIntyre-Mills

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The Centrality of Glocalisation in Sustaining Development Education in Ghana and Nigeria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Amponsah and Kola Babarinde

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Adoption and Use of Indigenous Knowledge to Promote Education for Sustainable Development in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Samuel Jabez Arkaifie and Mpho Mildred Dichaba

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Responsive Curriculum for Sustainable TVET Colleges in South Africa: Quo Vadis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour and Tabita Ladzeh Akpey-Mensah

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Promoting Gender Equality in Ghana: Sociocultural Factors in Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 Yvette A. A. Ussher, Linda Tsevi, and Ama Boafo-Arthur

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Distance Education Tutors’ Technology Pedagogical Integration During COVID-19 in Ghana: Implications for Development Education and Instructional Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Gideon Mensah Anapey and Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto

10 Oil Production, Dispossession, and Community Development in Africa: A Development Education Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 Boadi Agyekum, Pius Siakwah, and Isaac Kofi Biney 11 Rethinking Professional Researcher Involvement in Community-Engaged Evaluation Research: A Case of Adult Education in South Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor and Norma R. A. Romm 12 Integration of Quality into University Academic Programs for National Development in Uganda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Francis Akena Adyanga, Denis Sekiwu, and Grace Ankunda 13 Neoliberal Globalization, Food Systems (Literacy) Transformation and Global Citizenship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Issahaka Fuseini 14 Conclusion: The Futurity of Development Education in Africa . . . . 247 Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong, John Kwame Boateng, and David Addae

Chapter 1

Overview Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong , David Addae , and John Kwame Boateng

Abstract The focus of this edited volume is to explore a renewed vision for development education in Africa through the lens of an African-centred approach. This introductory chapter therefore provides an overview of development education and offers a brief justification for a departure from the Western-dominated development education discourse in Africa. The chapter ends with an overview of the chapters in this book. Keywords Development education · African-centredness · Social and environmental justice · Africa

1 Introduction The aim of this edited volume is to provide insights into the conceptualization and practice of an African-centred Development Education (DE) in different parts of Africa. As an approach to education, DE is not generally well known, despite its visibility in the academic or research arena or as part of the vocabulary of educational practitioners in most developed countries (Bourn, 2015). Although DE is a relatively young field of education, there is a growing interest in its potential to promote awareness of global development challenges with the intention of instigating concerted effort towards making the world a better place. Making the world O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong · J. K. Boateng School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Legon, LG 31, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] J. K. Boateng e-mail: [email protected] D. Addae (B) Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, LG 31, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Building 10, Sunnyside Campus, Sunnyside, Pretoria, South Africa © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_1

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a better place entails promoting global social and environmental justice. Despite the profound promise of DE for global development, it is yet to stimulate the desired development in Africa. This volume echoes the precursory question of, how can an African-centred DE promote Africa’s development? Using both theoretical and empirical perspectives, the volume is particularly dedicated to carving a path for ‘African-centredness’ in the Western-dominated DE discourse. This introductory chapter therefore provides an overview of the conceptualization of an African-centred development education, thereby setting the scene for subsequent chapters in the book. It also outlines the structure of the book and provides a compelling rationale for its approach to DE.

2 What Is Development Education? The world of the twenty-first century is still dominated by great divisions of wealth and inequality (Bourn, 2015). Also noticeable in this period is the unprecedented global environmental crisis which threatens the very survival of humans and other organisms. Therefore a comprehensive understanding of these problems has to be an important component of any educational practice around the world (Bourn, 2015). Vanessa Andreotti however reminds us that, if the connections between power relations, knowledge production and inequalities are overlooked, the result is often education practices that are ethnocentric (projecting one view as universal), ahistorical (foreclosing historical/colonial relations), depoliticised (foreclosing their own ideological location), paternalistic (seeking affirmation of superiority through the provision of help to other people) and hegemonic (using and benefiting from unequal relations of power). (Bryan & Bracken, 2011, p. 6)

In recent times, development education (DE) has emerged as a vehicle for understanding varied global development problems. DE entered public parlance more prominently in response to heightened global developmental challenges and the need to prepare a cadre of educators, students and practitioners abreast with issues affecting global development. According to Bourn (2015) DE is the result of a combination of a desire by governments and non-governmental organisations to build a constituency of support for and understanding of global and development issues within society, alongside a desire by radical educationalists such as Paulo Freire to promote a transformational approach to learning. As a field of education, DE, has a continuing value if it is seen not as learning about development issues but rather as a pedagogy of making connections between the individual and personal, from the local to the global, and which by its very nature, is transformative. It needs to be seen as an approach to education that challenges dominant orthodoxy on education and perceptions about the world and enables the learner to look at issues and the world from a different place. (Bourn, 2008, pp. 15–16)

DE has been referred to by many names, most notably, global learning, global education, and global citizenship, however, the commonality lies in the inclusion

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of global themes in content and in teaching approaches of the field (O’Flaherty & Liddy, 2018). Bourn (2014) notes that as a concept, development education emerged in the 1970s within the framework of initiatives by Northern based governments and International Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) to raise public awareness, understanding and support for international development. Bourn further notes that the concept came to have a number of different interpretations in the 1980s and 1990s as policy-makers and practitioners came to see the potential value of engaging in educationally based activities to raise understanding amongst the public about international development. Much of the literature maintains that development education has evolved from an activity aimed at gaining public support for international development projects, generally through making donations to ‘charity work’, to a process that encourages critical thinking, enabling people to take part in debates about global issues (Hicks, 2003 cited in Brown, 2015, p. 94). Despite the ‘crisis of interpretation’ confronting development education, there has been notable attempts to provide a befitting definition for the term. Irish Aid (2006) defines development education as an educational process that increases awareness and understanding of a rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world. This definition highlights certain crucial elements, namely building learners’ knowledge and awareness of global issues; critical thinking and analytical skills; and action for positive social and political change (O’Flaherty & Liddy, 2018). Lappalainen (2015) considers DE as an active and creative educational process designed to increase awareness and understanding of the world (p. 152). However, it should be noted that DE goes beyond just creating awareness about global development issues. Bourn (2015) reminds us that, Development education is much more than learning about development; it is a pedagogy for the globalised societies of the twenty-first century that incorporates discourses from critical pedagogy and postcolonialism, and a mechanism for ensuring that differing perspectives are reflected within education, particularly those from developing countries. Learning about development and global issues is now part of the school curriculum in a number of countries, and terms such as global citizenship, sustainable development and cultural understanding are commonplace in many educational contexts. Development education has been recognised as one of the educational discourses that has influenced the acceptance of these terms, for both policy-makers and practitioners.

It is a moral imperative for all people to contribute to efforts to promote global social and environmental justice. However, as a result of the historical roots of DE, this immense potential runs the risk of becoming a one-size-fit-all approach to development, neglecting social and cultural values and practices of the people it is supposed to serve. In this vein, DE could “either serve as a Euro-modernist ‘flaw’ at the root of its conception, or the site of a ‘productive tension’ with which one could more usefully engage” (Swanson & Gamal, 2021, p. 2) especially in its conceptualisation of African-centred DE. Therefore, discourses on DE should accommodate alternative conceptualisations of the term given the socio-ecological differences that exists in its practice and should embrace contradictions and tensions underlying its discursive positioning.

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3 ‘Point of Departure’: Towards African-Centred Development Education The discourse on education for development assumes that increasing educational levels leads towards a more balanced, harmonious and ‘civilised’ society (Waller et al., 2011, p. 510). In consonance, across Africa, there is a shared conviction and belief in the potential of education to transform the socio-economic fortunes of nations in the post-colonial era. Consequently, a great diversity of policies have been formulated and implemented to foster envisaged educational outcomes. Unfortunately, as noted by Ambrose (1995), development has eluded many African countries with tragic consequences such as increased poverty, declining provision of public services, a collapse in the sociopolitical infrastructure, and sociopolitical turmoil (Maruatona, 2006, pp. 548–549). This reality raises a number of questions germane to the educational systems currently in place in many African countries. During the colonial era, education policy on the African continent was driven by a complex mixture of differing colonial interests and motives, as historians have made clear (Tikly, 2019). The attainment of independence in many African countries propelled by nationalist movements have largely failed to achieve the expected gain of nationhood founded on ideals of democracy, human rights and duties (Nabudere, 2001); instead, it has ‘led to the creation of dependent post-colonial nations with strong economic ties to the metropolis and former colonizers’ (Maruatona, p. 549). In spite of this dependency and the immense natural resources, Africa remains the least developed continent in the world. It is argued that what the continent needs is to rid itself of Western influence in all sectors especially in the educational arena to enable its people to reclaim control of continental development agenda. In order to achieve the desired socio-economic development, this volume contends that education for development on the continent must be in sync with the unique challenges, experiences and values of Africans. We need to realize that the importation of the Western led one-size-fit-all approach to development in Africa has not yielded the expected outcomes because the challenges confronting Africa are uniquely African requiring African solutions. It is important to note that indigenous peoples around the world have from time immemorial always ‘maintained connections to their lands, languages, and cultures’ (Greenwood & Lindsay, 2019, pp. 82–83), which have enabled them to continually find solutions to their own problems—although there were concerted attempts by the colonizers to dislodge this ‘indigenous effort’ and rather create a dependent state. As noted by Dei (2012) there is an increasing inclination and need to create spaces for African indigenous knowledges to be considered within the knowledge community and critically examined on their own terms, free from dominating perspectives. Therefore, to understand the indigenous reality Africans must go to the indigenous sources for knowledge and not rely on theories and theorists elsewhere whose work speaks to different realities (Dei, 2012). To achieve this, we opine that indigenous knowledge systems based on African cultural values should take centre-stage in any educational endeavour in Africa.

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Impliedly, these values should dominate the curricula of schools, colleges and universities on the continent. An indigenous approach to education should be premised on a collective understanding of the interconnectedness of African countries, their peoples and the multifaceted problems confronting them. As Dei (2012) writes, there is a Black/African ontology, a science and an essence of being, a personality [if you will] that exists and must exist outside the construction of the ‘African’ within Euro-American hegemony, ideology, imagination and thought. (p. 110)

Therefore an African-centred development education should seek to offer a critique to the often unfair dominance of the paradigm of modern science and advocates for alternative paradigms, indigenous philosophies, knowledges, beliefs and practices through the effort of dialogue between competing orientations. Consequently Dei (2012) argues that the resistance to dominant and colonizing knowledges in order to transform African educational institutions should be an end goal of intellectual and political exercises both within and without the continent.

4 Rationale and Structure of the Book It is acknowledged that while development education seeks to create global citizens capable of promoting change globally, the historical root of the discipline is traceable to Europe. However, the philosophical underpinnings behind DE has since evolved through direct contact with social movements and solidarity groups around the world, as well as engagement with the work of critical educationalists such as Paulo Freire (Cronkhite, 2000; Hartmeyer, 2008) and research in the field has have come from different contexts. Given the ‘crisis of interpretation’ of development education alluded to earlier on, this volume is an invitation for scholars to conceptualise the discipline from an African perspective taking into account the different contextual factors. The volume acknowledges that development education is fraught with a definitional challenge due to the amorphous nature of the field. In tandem, it recognizes that there have been some notable efforts at conceptualising development education. However, such conceptualizations have often relied on Western contexts and philosophies. It is the central argument in this volume that while development education seeks to create global citizens capable of promoting change and also foster the development of alternative knowledge systems, the historical roots of the discipline can be traced to the West. The focus of development education in this volume is to offer a critique to the often unfair dominance of the paradigm of modern science and advocates for alternative paradigms, knowledge, beliefs and practices through the effort of dialogue between competing orientations. There is also an attempt in the book to move away from the dominance of Western philosophies in the conceptualization of development education, to explore how indigenous African knowledge, philosophies, traditions, beliefs, practices and values shape the theory and practice of development education in Africa. By implication the main thesis of the book is that the various problems

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faced by Africans are uniquely African which requires indigenous solutions to those problems. The goal of the book is to explore ways in which education is used as a tool to enhance the living conditions of Africans. This volume is a compendium of chapters covering contemporary issues in development education practice in Africa. The papers draw attention to efforts being made in different parts of the continent to promote education for development through education with special emphasis on the policies, trends and practices in the field. The book further draws on the expertise and experiences of different scholars regarding education endeavours for social, cultural, economic and structural development in different parts of Africa. The chapters have been carefully selected to capture socio-ecological features of DE conceptualization and practice. Chapter 2, “Theorising the Concept of Development Education from African Centred Perspective” attempts to explore and theorize the concept of development education from an African centred perspective. Guiding the chapter are five key questions: Does the underdevelopment in Africa stem from education policies that are not African-centred (neither come from the people, nor reflect their context)? If Africa’s education policies are context driven and centred on the African people, why the failure of the continent in developing a sustainable framework of development for its people? What African centred principles, concepts and ideas are used by African instructors in African educational institutions? What practices do these instructors use to implement these principles, concepts and ideas on the ground? What reasons are behind instructors’ use or failure to use such practices into aspects of their African centred pedagogy? To address these questions, the chapter begins by tracing the history of education in Africa in an attempt to make a compelling case for ‘Africa Development Education’. The chapter further discusses the possibility of an African centred ‘Development Education’ contingent upon the usage of an African worldview as the conceptual framework. Chapter 3 explores the potential to decolonize DE through indigenous knowledge. Specifically, the chapter revisits and employs an existing African knowledge system [proverbs] as a framework to advocate for a public purposed higher education with the intention to nurture a public purpose consciousness required in African higher education and consequent development. In Chapter 4, the authors explore how to balance individual and collective needs within a Pan-African and global context in an attempt to address the historical and current imbalances that result in social and environmental injustice. The chapter employs Molefi Asante’s idea of Afrocentricity to suggest that African Indigenous ways of knowing can be brought into some relationship with Western models of science through critical systemic thinking thereby enabling a more holistic approach to Africa’s development. This is followed by Chapter 5 which examines the centrality of glocalisation in sustaining development education in Ghana and Nigeria. Through a content analysis of the various educational reforms in Ghana and Nigeria, the chapter advocates for the incorporation of local content and delivery styles to ensure learners carry the ‘knowledge of their fathers’ into the future and immortalise such knowledge for posterity.

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Using the African philosophy of Ubuntu as theoretical framework, Chapter 6 examines the adoption and use of indigenous knowledge systems to promote education for sustainable development in Africa. The chapter argues that there is ample evidence that indigenous knowledge is contributing to sustainable futures in indigenous communities and as a result, indigenous people can continue to contribute towards global sustainable future when ESD is framed in indigenous knowledge. Chapter 7 makes an assessment of the root causes of the unemployability of graduates from Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges in South Africa. On the basis of the views articulated by key stakeholders—industries, students, lecturers and parents- the chapter discusses the kind of curriculum which can demonstrate the country’s vision for addressing the unemployment challenges through the TVET programmes. Furthermore, the chapter advocates for stakeholder participation in designing a more responsive curriculum. A case study is provided in Chapter 8 of the sociocultural factors that have contributed to gender disparity in education and employment, and further assessed some of the educational interventions that have introduced in Ghana. This case study is pertinent to DE because evidence suggests that gender disparities have negative impact on women’s participation in development initiatives particularly in Africa. Significantly, the study shows that a strong advocacy and revision of entrenched cultural practices have to be fostered to address interventions regarding gender disparities as well as educational inequalities. In Chapter 9, the authors present the results of a survey on distance education tutors’ technology integration literacy during COVID-19 pandemic. Their assessment of online learning practices of distance education tutors is to help sustain the gains in expanding higher education access for Ghanaians. Chapter 10 is centred on addressing the limited discourse regarding the possible synergies that could result from improved engagement between those interested in natural resource extraction on one hand, and community members and researchers on the other hand, tackling extraction issues. To achieve its aim, the authors employ the accumulation by dispossession discourse espoused by David Harvey that focuses on the prospects for making new contributions to the growing literature on natural resource exploitation and vulnerability. The chapter further lays out natural resource extraction considerations within identified problem areas and offers recommendations involving development education. Chapter 11 provides insights from a case study of how professional researchers situated in academia can work alongside research participants as part of the evaluation of Development Education interventions. The chapter offers a practical example with reference to the authors’ experience in organizing what can be termed a development evaluation of the South African national Kha Ri Gude campaign, which ran (nationwide) from 2008 to 2016. Chapter 12 also presents a case study of the integration of quality into university academic programmes for national development in Uganda. The authors contend that the integration of quality in university education would help to focus the purpose of education as a tool for poverty alleviation and acceleration of economic growth nationally. In Chapter 13 the author discusses global citizenship as an imperative of development education, through the lens of food literacy. The chapter

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recommends measures to facilitate unlearning and relearning of certain food cultures in order to impart food and nutrition literacies that are relevant to promoting good life or wellbeing as opposed to the (false) good life that contemporary global marketing systems promise. Finally, Chapter 14, which is the concluding chapter, discusses the futurity of development education in Africa highlighting pertinent issues in the preceding chapters.

References Ambrose, B. (1995). Democratization and the process of human rights in Africa: Problems and prospects. Prager. Bourn, D. (2008). Towards a re-conceptualisation of development education. International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 1(1), 5–22. Bourn, D. (2014). What is meant by development education? Educational Dialogue for Social Change: An Academic Journal (1). Bourn, D. (2015). The theory and practice of development education. Routledge. Brown, E. (2015). Opportunities for non-formal development education in Britain and Spain. Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 20, 93–113. Bryan, A., & Bracken, M. (2011). Learning to read the world: Teaching and learning about global citizenship and international development in post-primary schools. Irish Aid. Cronkhite, L. (2000). Development education: Making connections north and south. In D. Selby & T. Goldstein (Eds.), Weaving connections (pp. 146–167). Sumach Press. Dei, G. S. (2012). Indigenous anti-colonial knowledge as ‘heritage knowledge’ for promoting Black/African education in diasporic contexts. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, 1(1), 102–119. Greenwood, M., & Lindsay, N. M. (2019). A commentary on land, health, and Indigenous knowledge(s). Global Health Promotion, 26(3_Suppl.), 82–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/175797591983 1262 Hartmeyer, H. (2008). Experiencing the world global learning in Austria: Developing, reaching out, crossing borders. Waxmann. Hicks, D. (2003). Thirty years of global education: A reminder of key principles and precedents. Educational Review, 55(3), 265–275. Irish Aid. (2006). Irish aid and development education: Describing, understanding, challenging the story of human development in today’s work. Irish Aid. Lappalainen, R. (2015). Can global citizenship be a part of the post-2015 agenda? Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, 20, 152–165. Maruatona, T. (2006). Lifelong learning for facilitating democratic participation in Africa. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 25(6), 547–560. https://doi.org/10.1080/026013706009 89137 Nabudere, D. W. (2001). When nationalism, ethnicity and citizenship converge. In O. Korsgaard, S. Walters, & R. Andersen (Eds.), Learning for democratic citizenship. Association for World Education and the Danish University of Education. O’Flaherty, J., & Liddy, M. (2018). The impact of development education and education for sustainable development interventions: A synthesis of the research. Environmental Education Research, 24(7), 1031–1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1392484 Swanson, D. M., & Gamal, M. (2021). Global citizenship education/learning for sustainability: Tensions, ‘flaws’, and contradictions as critical moments of possibility and radical hope in educating for alternative futures. Globalisation, Societies and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 14767724.2021.1904211

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Tikly, L. (2019). Education for sustainable development in Africa: A critique of regional agendas. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20, 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09600-5 Waller, R., Bovill, H., & Pitt, B. (2011). Parents, partners and peers: Bearing the hidden costs of lifelong learning. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 30(4), 509–526. https://www.doi. org/10.1080/02601370.588464.

Chapter 2

Theorising the Concept of Development Education from African Centred Perspective John Kwame Boateng

and Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong

Abstract It has been said that, the link between ‘development’ and ‘education’ is often assumed and not theorised. Recent advances in Black African Studies have embraced an African centred conceptual framework in the study of Africana life, history, culture and life in Africa generally. The use of such conceptual framework has been employed and even expanded by scholars in disciplines such as Africana Studies, psychology, and literature. However, there has not been much done on an African centred development education, grounded in an African centred conceptual framework. It is generally believed that, a sound development framework for any country can derive its roots from a comprehensive context-driven policy based on grounded theory. A comprehensive African centred education policy must come from and driven by the African people and meet their peculiar context. Five important questions arise: Does the underdevelopment in Africa stem from education policies that are not African-centred (neither come from the people, nor reflect their context)? If Africa’s education policies are context driven and centred on the African people, why the failure of the continent in developing a sustainable framework of development for its people? What African centred principles, concepts and ideas are used by African instructors in African educational institutions? What practices do these instructors use to implement these principles, concepts and ideas on the ground? What reasons are behind instructors’ use or failure to use such practices into aspects of their African centred pedagogy? This chapter focuses on a review of the worldview, framework and an intellectual analysis of the link between ‘development’ and ‘education’. The chapter discusses the possibility of an African centred ‘Development Education’ contingent upon the usage of an African worldview as the conceptual framework. The usefulness, impacts and significance of an Africancentred epistemology and African-centred grounded theories are explored for an enduring African-centred development education. Keywords Development education · African worldview · African-centred education · Transformative action J. K. Boateng (B) · O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, LG 31, Legon, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_2

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1 Introduction This chapter explores and theorize the concept of development education from the African centred perspective. By this orientation, the authors have attempted to place decolonized African Development Education in the context of a strong review of existing literature on indigenous, anti-colonial and Afrocentric frameworks that uses African Scholarship. We argue that, the tendency to simply assume the link between Education and Development without a priori theorization is problematic. Kessi et al. (2021) in their special issue on decolonizing African Studies, discussed some of the epicolonial dynamics that characterize much of higher education and knowledge production in, of, with, and for Africa. Development denotes progressive moves and positive values. Development has been the desire of peoples and nations and civilizations forever. Renowned thinkers and researchers have made efforts and spent time to understand development, resulting in the postulation of theories of development. Fagerlind and Saha (1983) discussed at least four clusters of development theories, namely: 1.

2.

3. 4.

Classic cyclical theory, which includes the Greek and Roman views of the neverending cycles of growth and decay of all material things, including nations and civilization Augustinian Christian theory, which represented the views of “doomsdayer” who sees the world as heading toward major catastrophe, including the threat from a nuclear war or the explosion of the population bomb Linear theory, represented by optimists who see development as a never-ending progress; and Cyclical linear theory which combines the essence of the conflict orientation of the cyclical theory and the optimistic orientation of the linear theory.

The people who see a dynamic interactive relationship between education and development are advocates of the linear model theory. And within this model, there are three groups of social scientists, namely, 1. 2. 3.

Structural functionalists (e.g., Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton), The human capitalist theories (e.g., Theodore Schultz), and The modernization theorists (e.g., Alex Inkeles).

In decolonizing African Studies the authors argued that, the term decolonizing is best understood as a verb that entails a political and normative ethic and practice of resistance and intentional undoing or unlearning and dismantling of unjust practices, assumptions, and institutions, as well as the persistent positive action to create and build alternative spaces and ways of knowing. Kessi et al. (2021) presented four dimensions of decolonizing education work as structural, epistemic, personal, and relational, which are entangled but equally necessary. African centred development education perspective demands that disruptive and provocative questions be asked that lead to action, that does not just result in self-referential hand-wringing or performative awareness.

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Questions about how African institutions, whether they be universities, professional networks, or publishing forums fortify unequal access to power, opportunities, and knowledge? What information, interpretations, voices, and experiences qualify as wholesome for the African perspective? And what role must the Africentric universities and institutions play in the creation and formulation of the form of wholesomeness that enables us to reject other ways of knowing, sensing, and expressing information and ourselves as Africans. Decolonizing development education should reinforce the power of Africentric institutions to curate and confer qualifications that makes such institutions a powerful place of transforming knowledge. Kessi et al. (2021) noted that decolonizing means interrogating learners must read some texts but not others, and confront and interrogate the knowledge they represent and the knowledge they exclude. This means, decolonization must embrace multiple approaches and paths for Africans. Decolonization inspires the ‘the possibility of another possible’ and calls on Africans in the continent and diaspora to re-engineer academic accountability and authority, so that it derives from mutuality and rigorous plurality, rather than top-down hierarchies of social and professional exclusion (Kessi et al., 2021).

1.1 Dimensions of Decolonizing By definition, decolonisation is resistance against the systems of power. Kessi et al. (2021) identify four intersecting dimensions of decolonizing work—structural, epistemic, personal, and relational—that require coordinated action to challenge systems of privilege and exclusion. Structural decolonizing refers to redistributing and reopening material resources and opportunities—institutions, jobs, titles, professional recognition, research budgets, leadership and gatekeeping roles, scholarships, and entries of admission— that are currently distributed in ways that echo and reproduce colonial relations. Smith (2010) noted that, heterosexual white cisgender male scholars have long been in the helm of the professoriate in the United States, South Africa and in Europe, while women, coloured people, and black women in particular are clustered in contingent and precarious academic positions. Ahmed (2018) had also observed that, when ascending the ranks, black women and Afro-Diasporic colleagues are laden with the burden of ‘diversity work’ and made responsible for redressing their institution’s racism, but actively undermined and unrecognized in their attempts to do so. The diminishing presence of African and women scholars higher up the ranks of power and prestige, according to Kessi et al. (2021) results from the racist and sexist social systems in which institutions exist and are reinforced through the inequitable distributions of labour, responsibilities, and support, resulting in some groups of people falling off the academic ladder earlier at higher rates than others. Decolonizing research budgets is another way to bring down pervasive structural coloniality in African Higher Education Institutions. Funds are significantly larger in Western countries than in African countries (Kessi et al., 2021), and are often labelled

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‘aid money’ that makes them require particular paradigms of engagement, such as studying ‘fragile states’ or providing ‘capacity building’. Such situation, entrenches political economy of research that is centred in the former colonial metropole and is oriented around extraction and paternalism in the sense of ‘taking knowledge to help Africa’. According to Bendana (2019), research capital both literally and figuratively accrues to Western principal investigators and institutions, which invariably host grants and access overheads as a result of because of institutional and funder requirements. The demographics of the professoriat and the political economy of research are just two examples of structural epicoloniality indicating what structural decolonizing would need to transform (Kessi et al., 2021). Epistemic decolonizing is a major key to structural decolonizing. Epistemic decolonization refers to the redemption of worldviews and theories and ways of knowing that are not rooted in, nor oriented around Euro-American theory (Haraway, 1988). Epistemic decolonizing argues that, situatedness, subjectivity, and positionality matter. The claims, of the European Age of Enlightenment that scientific knowledge is inherently and necessarily rational, objective and universal are rejected by this orientation which holds that objectivity is also socially constructed and only knowledges in their plurality can be universal, for all attempts at knowing and articulating reality are grounded in a particular social and political context (Boidin et al., 2012). According to Ramugondo (2020), the personal dimension of decolonizing work brings to live consciousness, and engagement in defiant decolonial praxis. Disobedient decolonial praxis engages our communities, particularly across intersecting oppressions, and strengthens solidarity and collective consciousness. Ramugondo (2015), refers to this awareness of dynamics of hegemony and a commitment to fight against dominant practices through every day defiant actions as occupational consciousness, and notes that, there are implications for individual and collective wellbeing in perpetuating hegemony (Ramugondo, 2015). The personal dimension of decolonising work is rooted in liberation philosophy and inspired by Stephen Biko, Frantz Fanon, and Enrique Dussel’s conceptualization of consciousness as a mental attitude and a commitment to fight against all forces that seek to use identities, such as race, gender, and sexuality as measure of pliant (Kessi et al., 2021). Furthermore, occupational consciousness highlights the need to adopt transgressive acts to disrupt the cycle of oppression through the human occupation, for both individual and collective wellbeing and thus closes the gap between the personal and collective as an emancipatory project can never transpire through individuals alone. According to Kessi et al. (2021), in-group consciousness and liberatory praxis amongst the oppressed is needed to resist the divide-and-conquer tactics that sustain systemic oppression by isolating individuals and identities. Disobedient decolonial praxis engages our communities, particularly across intersecting oppressions, and strengthens solidarity and collective consciousness. Relational decolonizing recognizes human agency and the interdependence thereof. It requires people to attend on a daily basis to the active creation of equity,

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mutuality, and reciprocity that cuts against the grain of privilege and power (Kessi et al., 2021). Relational decolonizing requires white and European scholars to go the extra mile to catch up with African-led debates, indigenous knowledge processes, and public discourses for the purposes of listening and dialogue, not commodification or co-optation and requires both creating space for and ceding space to scholars from excluded and marginalized communities, whether they have been marginalized due to gendered, racialized, epistemic, religious, ethno-linguistic, or embodied hierarchies (Crenshaw, 1990). The paradigm of decolonizing sits in well with the Black feminist tradition and can be expanded as a call to remediate all forms of domination and elitism in African Studies and in academia more broadly. Achieving this necessitates also reconsidering disciplinary and methodologic hierarchies, publication and ‘impact’ prestige, elite institution privilege, urban biases, sexism, homophobia and transphobia, linguistic hierarchies, devaluation of teaching and mentoring labour, inflation of managerial authority, and inequitable emotional and physical burdens inherent in various research agendas and subjectivities. In short, rigorous decolonial praxis in African Studies must engage with intersectional inequalities (Collins & Bilge, 2020). Carroll (2014) shows that, scholarly advances in Africana studies utilize an African Centred conceptual framework in the study of African life, history and culture. And that African-centred scholars have argued that culture and worldview are two essential tools in the analysis of human and social relations. According to Carroll (2014), these scholars maintain that, cultural variations—pervasive in all humanity—significantly impact the responses one has to social phenomena. African centred scholars therefore argue that, it is only by taking into consideration the varied cultural realities that the social theorist and social scientist truly engages in meaningful social analysis. Development education is much more than learning about development; it is pedagogy for the globalised societies of the twenty-first century that incorporates discourses for critical pedagogy and post colonialism, and a mechanism for ensuring that different perspectives are reflected within education. Irish Aid (2007) defined development education as the educational process that increases awareness and understanding of a rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world. O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) observed that, certain critical issues of importance are underscored by this definition, such as consolidating learners’ knowledge and awareness of global issues; injecting critical thinking and analytical skills; and promoting the action for positive social and political change. Cronkhite (2000) noted from the cognitive justice perspective that, development education seeks to offer a critique to the often-unfair dominance of the paradigm of modern science and advocates for alternative paradigms, knowledge, beliefs, and practices through the effort of dialogue between competing orientations. Further, these researchers underscored that, while development education seeks to create global citizens capable of promoting change and foster the development of alternative knowledge systems, the historical roots of the discipline can be traced to the West (McCloskey, 2016). The theoretical underpinnings behind development education have evolved through the direct contact with social movements and solidarity groups around the world, as well as engagement with the work of critical

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educationalists including Paulo Freire. Research in the field have also emanated from different contexts. However, Krause (2010) observed that, what came to distinguish development education was the relationship to development and consequent support from aid ministries and international non-governmental organisations with an emphasis on linkages between learning and action within a social justice based perspective. Bourn (2015) established that development education emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s in Europe and North America in response to the de-colonisation process and the emergence of development as a specific feature of government and NonGovernmental Organisations (NGOs) policies and programmes. Up until the late 1960s the dominant view in Europe about the ‘third world’ was that it was a problem best left to the churches to help the poor people. The dominant image was of helpless people who needed charity—giving money ‘for black babies’. This meant that in many industrialised countries the medium through which people often learnt about the ‘developing world’ had been via the church. This linkage between an international outlook and the growth of development assistance programmes became an influence on both policy-makers and NGOs. Harrison (2008) documented activities and showed for example in UK, the work of Oxfam, the development and aid agency, in providing a typical example of how and why an NGO supported and became engaged in work within schools. According to McCollum and Bourn (2001), development education programme would not, have as its main objective changing attitudes and understanding of global poverty and international development but of improving the capacity of teachers to deliver effective programmes, or giving educators the tools and resources to engage with development issues. Hammond (2002) and others have commented that, development education was located within an approach that served to educate for support a ‘largely ignorant or disinterested public’ through an information-delivery model of learning. This practice of providing information and resources about third world problems became a feature of development education practice influenced particularly by a climate of ‘informed and committed opinion’ amongst returned overseas volunteers, teachers, schools, churches and academics throughout the late 1960s and 1970s (Starkey, 1994). The inclusion of global development topics in education is formally termed development education. It aims to bring to the fore, the inequalities and injustices present across our globe, and to advocate action for global social justice. As development education is an educational process that increases awareness and understanding of a rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world (Irish Aid, 2007), education for sustainable development centres on the new vision of education which empowers learners to assume responsibility for creating and enjoying a sustainable future (UNESCO, 2002). In the African context, the definitions of development education highlight key elements in building learners’ knowledge and awareness of global issues; critical thinking and analytical skills; and action for positive social and political change. In recent years there has been a move towards the term global as it seems to be a more

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relevant and accessible terminology (Bourn, 2014a, 2014b). UNESCO describes global citizenship education in similar terms to development education, reflecting the active role of learners to ‘face and resolve global challenges and ultimately to become proactive contributors to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, secure and sustainable world’ (UNESCO, 2014, 2015). A recommendation in developing alternatives to current development perspectives is for researchers to complement the search for general solutions to human problems with some local specificities (Spalding, 1993). The integration of localized, empirical research with theoretical, generalized studies demands that researchers accord some importance not only to country-specific research, but also, to research studies that explore grassroots level understanding, discourses on human problems and local strategies to problem solving. While community or locality studies by themselves are insufficient to offer a comprehensive understanding of society, they nevertheless do provide relevant data needed to ground the theoretical discussions in the everyday lived experiences of people. Such studies provide opportunities for willing researchers to hear what people on the ground and at the grassroots have to say, what their everyday thoughts are, and how they make meaning of their social world. In this light one can hope that perhaps a more appropriate theory and practice on sustained ‘endogenous’ development could emerge from micro-level studies of the contemporary African crises and thoughts from Africa’s rural communities (Windsor et al., 2010, 2015; Windsor, Pinto, et al., 2014). This chapter therefore discusses how education was perceived and practiced in Africa during the pre-colonial era, emergence of colonial education and its effects on the people of Africa, issues that have affected the development of a sustainable framework in development education in Africa, the nature of African centred development education and a theoretical framework for African centred development education.

2 Education Before the Dawn of Colonization In Old Africa, the warrior, the hunter, the nobleman, the man or woman who combined good character with a specific skill was adjudged a well- educated and well-integrated citizen of his community (Fafunwa, in Edevbaro, 1997, p. 7). In an address to the British Parliament on the 2nd February 1835, Lord Macauley thus stated: “I have travelled across the length and breadth of Africa and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we can ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage and therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Africans think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them to be, a truly dominated nation”. The above quotations give a sense of how well education in Africa served the needs of the people until the emergence of colonization. Ezeanya-Esiobu (2019) noted

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that several studies have confirmed that formal, non-formal and informal education were actively in existence in Africa prior to the commencement of colonialism. At the formal, non-formal and informal levels, Africans in various parts of the continent were consistently involved in the business of transmitting knowledge to the younger generation. According to Ezeanya-Esiobu (2019) citing the London, Bogle L’Overture (1972, p. 263); the colonizers did not introduce education into Africa, they introduced a new set of formal educational institutions which partly supplemented and partly replaced those which were there before. According to Ezeanya-Esiobu (2019), Education in Africa in the ancient times, differed across ethnicities, all of which operated within various forms of economic, political, and social systems. Yet, there was identifiable unity in the culture of learning and in the way of knowledge transmission among these groups occurred. Moumouni (1968) discussed how the identifiable cultural homogeneity reflected in the traditional education that was available to the younger generation across black Africa and the importance and solemnity that was attached to the passing on of knowledge from one generation to another. Moumouni (1968) further notes that education in most of traditional black Africa was also not done in isolation, but involved a collection of individuals, and these groups of individuals were taught progressively as they grew in age and matured, with their education emphasizing both the physical and metaphysical realities. Moumouni (1968) also noted that, although parents, nuclear and extended family members considered it their primary responsibility to ensure that their wards were well socialized according to the requirements of the society, traditional education in Africa also relied extensively on community effort. The high importance attached to education makes the popular African saying that “it takes a village to raise a child.” One thing this ensures is that even children born to less privileged parents have as much opportunity to transcend their economic disadvantage by being taught by both the rich and the poor alike. Moumouni (1968) insisted that far from being undecided and incoherent, education in Africa was so structured that, from the time of birth until adulthood, the individual is subjected to a well thought out plan of inculcation of values, discipline, education and all that is needed to ensure an adult who will be useful to the overall growth and development of society. The author explains further that the girl child remains under the primary care of her mother. At this stage, the child is gradually introduced into the life of adults, and is called upon frequently to perform various tasks for adults within the community. The child also participates in games and roleplaying which among other benefits, develop him intellectually, psychologically, and socially. The young girl by assisting the mother to cook certain dishes, and going to the market to buy and sell, soon learns how to be both a good home keeper and an astute trader, independent of her mother. The little boy who starts out by assisting his father to farm the family plot of land, and who goes hunting for grass cutters and other smaller animals, soon learned how to farm a sizable plot of land all by himself and how to hunt for bigger game. By accomplishing productive tasks, the African child and adolescent familiarized themselves with adult jobs and initiated into the different social aspects of their future lives. Precolonial African education

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therefore, involved the child being a part of a solid and complex relationships aimed at imparting knowledge with the members of his or her community (Moumouni, 1968). In the kind of education system that prevailed in Africa before the advent of colonization in Africa, the mother was responsible for the instruction of the child from the time of birth for as long as 6 years. In these years, the child remains under the mother’s scrutiny and basically it is from the mother that the baby gets the full assurance of love and care, strong foundations needed to ensure a strong but empathic adult. The African woman mother, the first teacher in every African child’s life is renowned for her unparalleled commitment to the health and wellbeing of her child, going to great lengths to ensure that he is strong, healthy, and well-behaved (Moumouni, 1968, p. 16). At around the age of six, the boy child is completely weaned off his mother’s care and attention, with the father assuming the main responsibility for his education. The girl child, however, remains under the primary care of the mother. At this stage, the child is gradually introduced into the life of adults, and is called upon frequently to perform various tasks for adults within the community. The child also participates in games and role-playing which among other benefits, develop him intellectually, psychologically, and socially. Looking at it in this way, education in Africa could not be that different from life itself. There is minimal emphasis on abstract learning or formalism as one that is different from the day-to-day situations that individuals encounter and informally learn from. In this informal manner, the basic foundation of societal values, knowledge and culture are transmitted to the child. The young girl by assisting the mother to cook certain dishes, and going to the market to buy and sell soon learns how to be both a good home keeper and an astute trader, independent of her mother. The little boy who starts out by assisting his father to farm the family plot of land, and who goes hunting for birds and squirrels and as well learn to fall big trees several times bigger than his body, soon learns how to farm a sizable plot of land all by himself and how to hunt for bigger game. Thus pre-colonial African Education of growing up children was experiential. They learned by doing and practice until they became experts. Moumouni (1968, p. 19) emphasized this when he states that, “it is by accomplishing productive tasks that the African child and adolescent familiarized themselves with adult jobs and were initiated into the different social aspects of their future lives”. Therefore, precolonial African education therefore, involved the child being part of a solid and oftentimes complex relationship—aimed at imparting knowledge—with the members of his community (Moumouni, 1968, p. 20). Looking at this from the other lens, Abraham (1969) noted that the education of the African child was essentially pragmatic, because virtue was inculcated more through exercise, practice than through precept. African children were trained and socialized by their elders in Africa who acted as coaches and became renowned for being custodians of knowledge and wisdom, making them the indispensable chief architects in shaping the minds of the younger generation. William Emmanuel Abraham in his book The Mind of Africa (University of Chicago: Chicago, 1969), wrote about the Akans of Ghana, and stated that “the words of one’s elders are greater than amulet” (Abraham, 1969, p. 70). Among the numerous sayings of the Akans

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that show this reverence for age and the wisdom it comes with is that “there was an old man before a lord was born” (Abraham, 1969, p. 71). As the child approaches puberty in several parts of Africa, education assumes a more formal approach. In preparation for being a fully-fledged adult in the society, the boy child passes through initiation rites at around the age of 15 or 16 (Moumouni, 1968, p. 25). In most cases, boys who were of age were taken away to a camp, several miles from the village, where he is taught secrets about the community, which the uninitiated would never be privy to. Rodney (1972) offered a good example of boys initiation school held by the Poro brotherhood in Sierra Leone. There are a number of examples across the African Continent among the krobos of Ghana and the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania just to name a few. The young men and women up for initiation live in groups of about 50 and are constantly instructed by the elders of the village for as long as the ceremony lasts. The young man also undergoes the painful act of circumcision after which he emerges as a real man, ready to get married and start his own family. During the period of seclusion, a strong feeling of camaraderie and trust is built among the group, which binds them together for the rest of their lives. Moumouni (1968) argued that the process of initiation placed adequate emphasis on physical exercises, sexual education, awareness of responsibility and the harmonious acceptance of the child into the community. Moumouni (1968) identified four distinct characteristics of traditional or precolonial African education, which distinguishes it from that obtainable elsewhere as follows: • The early emphasis on the development of the child’s physical endowments; including body, agility, endurance, physical resistance and ability to use his body in different circumstances and for different purposes. This was usually achieved through games such as jump rope, races, swimming, acrobatics, and other sports competitions, which might be considered intense for the child. • The high regard accorded to character building and development. The individual as a moral agent played a central role in traditional African education. Issues of honesty, integrity and mannerism were taken seriously in the training which the child receives both at home and from the community. • Education in precolonial Africa encompassed both physical and intellectual activities at every stage of the child’s training. Through the use of age groups, age and sex relevant knowledge is transmitted to the younger generation. • Precolonial African education emphasized practical exercises in orature, music, art, history and general knowledge, among others. Further, Moumouni (1968) contended that, “precolonial African education responded to the economic social and political conditions of precolonial African societies and it is in relation to these conditions that it must be examined and analyzed”. He further asserts that traditional African education was fully capable of supplying the necessary elements to maintain in all its essentials, the level attained by African society—before the slave trade—in the economic, social, technical and cultural spheres. “In this sense, one can say that pre-colonial African Education fulfilled its objectives”. Even by present day, the technical achievements, political

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and economic organization, work of art, the striking personality of older Africans and the intact vitality of the peoples of Black Africa bear witness to this fact according to Moumouni (1968). Precolonial African education adequately supplied the blacksmiths, weavers, shoemakers, and other artisans needed to stimulate the economy of the societies in question. Politically, socially, and culturally, the successes of the several empires and societies such as kingdoms in Benin, Ghana and Mali or the Igbo of today’s south-eastern Nigeria demonstrate the effectiveness of traditional African education.

3 Colonial Education The colonisation of the African continent by the Europeans begun in the late nineteenth century, and introduced a new way of life into the African society. According to Nwauwa (1996), Africa was transformed by the Western influences, making it necessary to fit Africans into the new conditions. Western education as a whole, became widespread in the colonies. Western education among other things was necessary to promote effective communication with the Africans in the colonies and to enable the colonialists recruit Africans into the roles such as interpreters and mediators, which helped to adapt African societies and their institutions into the colonial mould (Nwauwa, 1996). According to Abrokwaa (2017), western education in colonial Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was not aimed at developing the Africans and their environment but to serve and adapt Africans to the colonial interests of the European powers. Ajayi Ade et al. (1996) have observed that, the goals were required in three main areas. First, adaptation was needed in the colonial administration and services, including tax collection, law courts, public works, agriculture, and health. Second, it also occurred in the mining, finance, commercial enterprises including farming establishments, production of raw materials, produce collection, distributive trade, and importation and exportation. Finally, adaptation was required in the missionary activities of evangelisation and the provision of Western education itself. Altbach (2003) also argued that, the British colonial education policies not only created dependent higher education institutions in the final days of colonial rule in the British territories but the policies also failed to make these institutions relevant to the societies and peoples in the colonies. Altbach (2003) further argued that, no attempts were made to establish any meaningful and effective working relations between higher education and industry for national development and economic growth. To a large extent, therefore, African higher education institutions became and have continued to remain alien forms of centres of higher learning that are very removed from the realities and the needs of postcolonial African societies and their peoples. On the other hand, under the direct rule system adopted by France, Belgium and Portugal, Africans were excluded from any form of participation at all levels of the colonies. Western education was not considered necessity for the colonised Africans in these territories.

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Ajayi Ade et al. (1996) revealed that British colonial policy on education in subSaharan Africa began in 1882, two years before the Berlin Conference which partitioned the African continent into smaller territories to be occupied by the European powers. In 1882, according to Ajayi Ade et al. (1996) the British colonial government established government subvention to missionary schools in West Africa. However, there was no formal educational policy for the colonies in sub-Saharan Africa until the 1920s. Barnes (2002) hints of the first investigations into education in the British colonies of the Gold Coast (now Ghana), Sierra Leone and Gambia was conducted through the agency of Dr. Richard R. Madden, who was sent to West Africa as the royal commissioner, and charged with a responsibility to carry out a survey of the political, economic, and cultural institutions in these settlements (Barnes, 2002). The submission of the Report of 1842, XII, 430 by Madden, had it that, the intellectual faculties of the African thrives most when he is between the ages of 5–12 and from then on it begins to experience a decline. According to the report, “the harsh climatic environment forced the premature development of the brain of the African in his early years, and unfortunately, those were the years spent in memorizing sums and letters, things he will rapidly forget in later years”. In this submission (Madden, 1842), Madden called for the drafting of a curriculum rich in mechanical, vocational and farming courses and non-intellectual pursuits, rather than one geared toward intellectual development; and warned not to teach the child to follow intellectual pursuits which he can never master; but instead, teach the young to work. This became the educational policy for British colonies until the 1920s (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2019). Abrokwaa (2017) reveals the significance of Madden’s educational report and philosophy in the sense that Africans should be trained as labourers to serve Europeans. The policy of teaching vocational education to Africans was based on the nineteenth century European view which held that Africans were uneducable, because of their inferiority in nature. Lawuo (1978) revealed that, Christian missionaries used education as their tool for gaining converts and making entry into new areas to pave the way for Western socio-economic and political structures. David Livingstone (cited by Lawuo, 1978, p. 50) made a declaration that the most important duty of the European Christian Missionary in Africa was to integrate the African into European economic structures. Africa, therefore he declared, should not be allowed to industrialize, but instead should serve as a plantation for the metropole, growing the crops demanded by industrial Europe. Mazrui (1979) hinted that, the task of the Western missionary was therefore twofold, one of Westernizing and another of Christianizing the native. The missionary tried to achieve through socialization and acculturation packaged in the gospel and in the education that was administered to the natives. Mazrui (1979) further observed that, the technological triumph of the western world gave its system of education almost universal prestige and that cultures which previously trained and socialized their children in radically different ways, saw themselves drawn irresistibly towards the western approach to education with the ultimate aim to produce from the schools, African men and women with modern secular skills necessary for the new society of the twentieth century.

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These objectives and approaches no doubt had implications for the development of the African through education. The colonial education impacted negatively on the total development of the African. Ezeanya-Esiobu (2019) noted that the lingering effects of the type of education which was imposed on most of Africa can be experienced in the lack of creativity and innovation, which are the hallmarks of Africa’s education system and that colonial education succeeded in its aim of preparing Africans for subordinate positions available to natives within the structure of the colonial bureaucracy as interpreters, clerks, teachers, hospital workers, and other needs of the administration. The result was the production of civil servants who were dedicated to the service of the colonizing powers and indeed regarded themselves as the highly privileged few as compared to the majority of their brethren. According to Wa Thiong’o (1987), the Berlin conference of 1884 was effected through the sword and the bullet. But the night of the sword and the bullet was followed by the morning of the chalk and the blackboard. The physical violence of the battlefield was followed by the psychological violence of the classroom. Moumouni (1968) observed that, along with the magnitude of the servility displayed to their white supervisors, the newly educated African elite also treated their fellow Africans with scorn and arrogance, thereby propagating the myth of “white superiority” and black inferiority. Ezeanya-Esiobu (2019) again noted that, colonial education sought to systematically devalue Africa’s indigenous knowledge and to destroy all sense of self, community awareness and pride, which the African had before being subjected to colonial education. Rodney (1972) declared that, the educated Africans were the most alienated Africans on the continent and that at each further stage of education, they were battered and succumbed to the colonial system, and after being given salaries, they could then afford to maintain a style of life imported from outside that further transformed their mentality. One may therefore ask, does the underdevelopment in Africa stem from education policies that are not African-centred? This is pretty much so according to Mawere (2017) who argues that, particularly foreign-made theories and policies, have done inconceivable harm to Africa’s development. It is largely through the deployment of Northern-fabricated theories that today Africa remains poor, poorer than she was at the eve of independence in the 1960s. It is through such theories that African leaders, in the name of promoting international development, unwittingly and unintelligently have allowed the Westerners to experiment on their economies using the prescriptions of neoliberalism of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, framed policies of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), which in no doubt have witnessed the downturn of development, including education in Africa. Agbor (2012) makes reference to the Africa Learning Barometer, a new interactive produced by researchers at the Brookings Centre for Universal Education, which indicates that, only about half of sub-Saharan Africa’s 128 million school-aged children currently attending school are likely to acquire the basic skills needed for them to live healthy and productive lives. The centre’s research further suggests that if you are a poor, female child currently attending school in a rural region you are far more likely not to be learning the critical skills, such as reading, writing and math.

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While these gender, income and regional learning gaps exist in most sub-Saharan African countries, they are most salient in South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Lesotho and Botswana. Agbor (2012) further noted that, taking aside the legacy of colonialism and racial and ethnic inequalities in some of these countries, a number of other factors explain the continuing disparities in learning between rural and urban schoolchildren in subSaharan Africa. Considering the significance of rural poverty across the continent, it should come as no surprise that rural schoolchildren are the most disadvantaged from a socioeconomic perspective when it comes to access to a quality education. Rural schools generally have less qualified teachers and not enough teachers for the number of children enrolled in school. This is clearly evident in the low teachers-per-school ratios and teacher-to-pupil ratios in most rural African regions. The reasons for these low numbers in rural Africa are many and very much linked to poverty and other inequalities and socioeconomic conditions. For example, teachers generally prefer urban to rural schools because urban areas offer greater opportunities and higher incomes. There is also a better quality of life in urban areas, with better access to good infrastructure, other services (such as healthcare) and general public goods. In contrast, rural areas in Africa are often characterized by poor or non-existent infrastructure and little or no provisions for other critical social services. This in turn negatively impacts the quality of education for rural-area children since even getting to school is a more difficult challenge and illness of a pupil or a family member may force the pupil to drop out of school entirely. Students in rural regions of Africa are further disadvantaged by the fact that their parents are generally uneducated. Again, we see that other socioeconomic conditions and inequalities greatly impact the quality of education in rural areas compared to urban centres. The continent’s education crisis is serious and it adversely affects rural areas more than urban ones. African governments and their development partners should not underestimate the long-term consequences of continued poverty and socioeconomic inequalities in rural areas and the urban poor areas. These conditions will only continue to exacerbate the education and learning gaps between rural and urban African schoolchildren. And in turn, poor quality education in rural areas will only continue to perpetuate long-term poverty in the region. This calls for the need to approach education from the perspectives of development education to enhance sustainability.

4 Sustainable Framework in African’s Development Education The African continent has failed in developing a sustainable development educational framework for its people because Africa’s education policies are not universally context driven and centred on the African people. There may be some that are context

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driven and addressing few problems in few areas but on the whole local policies are heavily influenced by external powers to the extent that, Mawere (2017) succinctly declared, while there are many theories and models of development that have been used (and continue to be used) in Africa even today; from modernisation to integration and globalisation theories of development, most if not all of these theories have been developed either in Europe or the Americas in ways that make one wonder if these theories and models, no matter how strong they might be, could be wholesomely applicable to contexts of Africa which are different from those of the places and people they were developed for. Africa has failed to develop alternative African centred sustainable framework for development because there has not been a critical examination of what ‘sustainable development’ means in the African context and what the pursuance of this approach to development can hopefully achieve in terms of improving the lives of local peoples. Dei (1993) reveal that, any new and alternative approaches to development must speak to the social, spiritual, cultural, economic, political and cosmological aspects of African peoples. Therefore if a new wave of theorizing ‘sustainable development’ issues in Africa is to be helpful in addressing problems of Africans, it must be situated in an appropriate social context that provides practical and social meaning to the African actors as subjects of a development discourse. Dei (1993) did not accept that there can be much improvements in the lives and living conditions of African rural peoples if the approach to ‘sustainable development’ is pursued within existing conventional development paradigm that is continually creating dependency, strengthening unequal dependency relations between nations, and also further reinforcing and maximizing the system of control, exploitation, injustice and inequality within and among societies. Dei (1993) was also concerned that many development ‘experts’ and agencies are yet to attain a full understanding of what it takes to have in place an effective developmental agenda that African rural peoples can identify with irrespective of ethnic, class, age and gender differences. To reach this understanding therefore, a genuinely reciprocal dialogue between the ‘experts’ and the ‘ordinary’ peoples was necessary and such dialogue would only be fruitful if a recognition of the unequal power relations between the ‘experts’ and local peoples is matched by a sustained attempt to do away with the hierarchical power distinctions that exist in society between the intellectuals and the local peoples. Africa has also failed to develop alternative African-Centred sustainable framework for development as a result of legitimizing and prioritizing certain knowledge forms over and above others in the development process. An example in question is the importance and privilege associated with men’s knowledge about the environment over that possessed by women farmers. Africa will be ready to embrace alternative framework for development when popular culture recognized to play a significant role in local development is just as much as the knowledge of local ecology, social economy, and appropriate technology that may be shared by the scientific ‘experts’. When development experts do recognize and acknowledge the presence of knowledge and experiences that are challenging and may be inaccessible to the ‘experts’

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own social positions. And when local peoples are encouraged to assert the legitimacy of their own definitions of ‘sustainable development’ and the meaning and implications of their actions in their own terms. According to Dei (1993), the definition of sustainable development as dictated by Western perspective has not helped local peoples in Africa in articulating their daily experiences to the outside world. Many views of development have failed to recognize that local peoples do theorize in their communities as part of community life not just to articulate, but also, to interpret their experiences. It is an African development fact that, local peoples have culturally constructed ways of reflecting on their daily lives and the surrounding natural environment. Local peoples can give their own accounts of what is happening to them and what they are doing, can do, and intend to do about it. When the development ‘experts’ become ready to tap this rich source of local knowledges, Africa will be ready to develop an alternative African centred sustainable development framework. An understanding of local ideas and perceptions about resource conservation is significant in a discussion of ‘sustainable development’. The problem is that conservation is rarely locally defined, that is, to take the basic needs of the local populations into consideration first. Local peoples have never received assurances from the state that the resource they help conserve today will be available tomorrow for their own benefit. In the absence of a guarantee that rural peoples can enjoy the benefits of their own restraint, national efforts to promote local conservation are met with scepticism. Normally it would be easier for conservation efforts to be successful depending on the extent to which alternative choices and solutions are readily available to people. For example, local peoples cannot be expected to minimize their dependence on fuel wood if alternative energy sources are not readily available to them. Berkes et al. (1989) have argued that when local peoples have no control over their forests, lack autonomy over available resources, and have no alternative choices to using forest products, they have every incentive to cut down the trees before someone else does. In order for the African centred alternative development framework to be a credible approach to development in Africa, there are human rights issues that have to be considered as part of the national development process (Dei, 1993). The discourse on ‘sustainable development’ must encompass the domains of human rights, participatory democracy and local involvement and input in the decision making processes. ‘Sustainable development’ in Africa must extend beyond the narrow concerns over the natural environment in national economic development to include genuine and comprehensive democratic reforms as well as a redistribution of social wealth. The rights of women, children and the poor to the satisfaction of the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, education and health care must be treated as equal components of the struggle for political democracy in Africa. According to Dei (1993), although some of current measures aimed at empowering the African rural poor through on-going democratization processes in some countries may be laudable, however, precautions must be taken so that, this becomes an ‘African democracy’, that is, democracy which is understood by African peoples and not something dictated to them by transnational corporations and foreign governments.

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A new and alternative African centred development framework should embrace indigenous knowledge, described as the common sense knowledge and ideas of local peoples about the everyday realities of living which form part of their cultural heritage (World Bank, 1998). Indigenous knowledge includes the cultural traditions, values, belief systems and worldviews of local peoples as distinguished from Western scientific knowledge. Such local knowledge is the product of indigenous peoples’ direct experience of the workings of nature and its relationship with the social world. It also is a holistic and inclusive form of knowledge in the sense of encompassing the mental, intellectual, spiritual and physical development of the individual self and the interconnections of the self and society with the earth in the spirit of reciprocity and partnership. Dei (1992) reports that, African ways of knowing about the world are ideas of community membership, social responsibility, social cohesiveness and the commonalty of all peoples. The knowledge systems of African peoples are expressed in their traditional songs, fables, proverbs, legends, myths, mythologies and traditions of rural peoples. So it is no secret that local indigenous knowledge and the cultural resource base of African peoples have been the least analysed for their contributions to national development processes. Yet it is important to understand how such knowledge forms are utilized by rural peoples to address some of the fundamental problems of daily survival for the insights they do provide for achieving ‘sustainable development’ (Dei, 1993).

5 African Development Education Recognising the failures of the colonial education, there is the need to pursue a development education that leverages on the principles, concepts, and ideas of scholars of African indigenous education. The essential principles of an African worldview are the prerequisites for the ideological cornerstones of an African centred paradigm in indigenous belief system and education. Grills (2004) noted that in order to efficiently apply an African centred paradigm, there is a need to examine the phenomena with lens consistent with an African understanding of reality such as African values; African logic; African methods of knowing and African historical experiences. Grills (2004) further noted that the African ideological premise is rooted in the ) refers to concepts of Ma’at. Maat or Ma’at (Egyptian: the ancient Egyptian concepts of truth, balance, order, harmony, law, morality, and justice. The ideological opposite is Isfet (Egyptian jzft), meaning injustice, chaos, violence or to do evil. According to the ancestors of ancient Kemet, According to Nobles (1990), Ma’at is the cardinal principles that govern human functioning and behaviour (Nobles, 1990). These principles acknowledge that one is an extension to the divine and inevitably a spark of the divine. Humans are not only extensions to the divine but to others, to nature, and to their ancestors as well. Since one is created in the likeness of the divine, the aim for one’s life is to become Godlike or strive towards perfectibility (King, 2005).

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The seven cardinal virtues of Ma’at become the compass towards human perfectibility. These virtues are truth, justice, harmony, balance, order, reciprocity, and propriety. They are the essence and foundation of all experiences and engagement in an African centred Institution. Conceived by Maulana Karenga (2014), Nguzo Saba is a system of seven principles that support the Black community. These principles include: (a) Umoga or unity, (b) Kujichagulia or self-determination, (c) Ujima or collective work and responsibility, (d) Ujamma or cooperative economics, (e) Kuumba or creativity, (f) Nia or purpose, and (g) Imani or faith (Kifano, 1996). Learners are reminded daily of the importance of adhering to these seven principles as they strive towards displaying honourable character and intellect. African Development Education is a system of sequentially planned educational opportunities designed to provide African heritage learners with the necessary and required skills that will enable them to participate in the global marketplace. The focus and specific interests are, the upliftment and empowerment of themselves, their African communities, and the total development and growth of the African continent. Organized around an integrated academic and social skills model, the African-centred curriculum is geared towards the development of youth as life-long learners and future leaders. The curriculum is designed not only to supplement and support the development and mastery of academic skills (reading, writing, math computation, and critical thinking) but also to provide students with a solid foundation of values and experiential learning through a process of critical awakening (Thomas et al., 2014). The philosophy undergirding the curriculum is firmly planted within the concept of African Rites of Passage. Its primary goal is to facilitate learners’ knowledge and understanding of self—who they are and what they are about—the purpose, and meaning for their existence as they progress through life. The goal then is to provide learners with the tools and skills with which to minimize the forces that seek to destroy them but at the same time, allow them to achieve self-respect, selfdiscipline, physical, academic, mental, and emotional success based on the principles of Kwanzaa, the Nguzo Saba. Coupled with the Ma’atian virtues, the focus of values includes responsibility, decision-making, problem solving and conflict resolution. The African-centred curriculum recognizes that an Africentric approach to life cannot be incorporated into one’s existence in isolation from the universal human experience, for, people are more likely to understand their personal and group circumstances when they realize that those circumstances are tied to, and fit into universal patterns of human behaviour. The African-centred curriculum utilizes the concept of “learning by doing” which is consistent with the learning styles and training of the African youth in the pre-colonial era and in today’s terms, this is Engaged Learning. The African centred education empowers learners to fully understand and place their personal and group circumstances within a global context, through lessons that are centred on concepts that: • Allow learners to fit their personal experiences into patterns of universal human behaviour.

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• Relate their learning to what they already know thereby, help them fit new learning into their conscious frame of reference (truth in history—become subjects of our own history and not the objects of others history). • Allow for facilitators and learners to be creative in both learning and teaching (applying multiple intelligences). • Recognize the connections between and among all things and all people (respect for the environment). • Provide learners with frameworks for understanding future problems that may confront them both in and outside the classroom (become creators of knowledge and problem solvers (Nobles, 1990). Instructors working in institutions that deliver African centred curriculum believe that learners are divine beings who bring with them gifts and talents from the creator and human heritage. It is the moral obligation of learners to therefore use these gifts and knowledge to uplift the community and family and strive towards being excellent or Godlike (Nobles, 1990). To help learners internalize their role and moral obligation, African centred institutions infuse the principles of Nguzo Saba into their curriculum and school ethos.

6 Theoretical Framework for African Centred Development Education This section explains the underpinning theoretical and conceptual framework for African Centred Development Education. The theoretical framework is underpinned by two distinct but complementary theories namely Critical Consciousness and Transformative Action (TA) (Jemal & Bussey, 2018). Freire (1975) defines critical consciousness as the process whereby people achieve an illuminating awareness of the socioeconomic and cultural circumstances that shape their lives and their capacity to transform that reality. Critical consciousness is foundational to community-based practitioners’ work and education for understanding and combatting systemic inequity. According to Freire (2000), the lack of critical consciousness in a community creates an environment conducive to oppression that spreads throughout and impacts systems from the individual to the macro level. Wallin-Ruschman (2018) and also Delia and Krasny (2018) posits that, the development of critical consciousness counteracts the destructive impact of oppression and promotes social action against the forces of oppression. Maton (2008), noted that, critical consciousness is an active, participatory process through which individuals and groups gain greater control over their identities and lives, protect human rights, and reduce social injustice. The three levels of transformative action, namely destructive action, avoidant action, and critical action are grounded in Freire’s (1973) work. For “destructive action,” people take action that perpetuates inequity, whether intentionally or unintentionally. This level focuses on the action taken and the consequences of the action

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rather than the person’s state of mind. For “avoidant action,” people do not attempt to address inequity; they ignore it. Although they are not engaging directly in activity to perpetuate inequity, their avoidance constitutes active collusion in maintaining the oppressive status quo. The “critical action” level is the highest level of TA, in which individuals respond deliberately and purposefully mitigate inequity underlying individual and/or social problems. Diemer et al., (2017} described critical action as the outright engagement in individual or collective action to produce sociopolitical change in the unjust aspects (e.g., institutional policies and practices) of the pre-colonial and colonial education that cause unhealthy conditions. Transformative action development involves transformation on two levels: first, the action potential needed to transform oppressive social realities such as the negative effects of colonial education in Africa into equitable and just conditions; and second, one’s potential to undergo a specific transformation through the levels of TA, from uncritical to critical levels of action, toward a place where one can transform inequitable situations and contexts. According to Windsor, Jemal et al. (2014), action is a tool for identity development and that civic engagement and socio-political action shape how one perceives self, others, and social injustices. Garcia et al. (2009) observed that, as people challenge inequitable conditions within local socio-political contexts, they gain new understandings of themselves, other group members, and contexts arose. A person’s identity, then, became that of an active and engaged citizen, described by Zaff et al. (2010) as a person who has a sense of civic duty, feeling of social connection to their community, and confidence in their abilities to effect change in their person and environment simultaneously. In development education, the transformative action framework is important for student and facilitators development. Facilitators are responsible for shaping future practitioners, and students are responsible for carrying the mantle of their respective fields. Gay and Kirkland (2003) reveals that culturally competent pedagogy informed by transformative action inspires individuals to become self-directed learners and active citizens. As such, curriculum and classroom activities should be: a. b. c. d.

grounded in the lives of students, providing opportunity to link their lives with broader society; collaborative, building a community that supports consciousness-raising and collective action; critical, moving past assumptions and learning to pose critical questions about society, popular culture, government actions, and global and local policies; and compassionately engaged, understanding the interconnectedness of all people and actions, and developing the perspectives of self as an active participant in society.

Curriculum fostering this approach prepares learners to understand how cultural realities independently and interactively affect the outcomes of educational processes. This observation ties in with the essential principles of an African worldview that empowers learners to fully understand and place their personal and group circumstances within a global context. Grills (2004) noted that in order to efficiently apply an African centred paradigm, there is a need to examine or analyse

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the phenomena with lens consistent with an African understanding of reality such as African values, African logic, and African methods of knowing and African historical experiences. From the forgone theoretical consideration and conceptual analysis, transformative actions and culturally competent pedagogy facilitate the understanding that avoidant action is complacency toward the inequitable status quo. Because most people are unaware of the interrelationships among systems, that is, how micro practices are reflective of macro socio-political processes and vice versa many may unwittingly perpetuate injustice. Thus, the fight for justice is one that encompasses perception and action. The perception and understanding that, to take care of oneself, it is necessary to take care of others (that is the realization that we share one fate), and action toward systemic change must address the power imbalances and lack of access to resources at multiple levels and across multiple systems. According to Jemal and Bussey (2018), teaching philosophies and methods of teaching that are grounded in the transformative action framework seek to: a. b. c. d. e.

challenge facilitators and learners alike to think critically honour all contributions to the classroom remain connected to values of social justice and cultural competency respect issues of diversity and inclusion in the classroom prioritise process over outcome.

In the light of development education, African centred views of teaching as embodied in the seven principles creates environments conducive to transformative experiences. Not only will learners begin to understand how their lives and biographies are connected to social structures, power, and history, but learners begin to understand how they can be creators of knowledge (Kambon, 1996). The classroom is an ideal place for educators to put theory into practice, challenging learners to understand what it means to think from a social-ecological perspective about a social problem. Educators might include modules or practice activities of applied experience, developing and conducting action (e.g., using professional scenarios they will likely encounter in the field), identify why the action is destructive, avoidant, or critical, and for whom, because context matters. Instead of using the banking method of education—in which educators deposit knowledge into students who are considered empty vessels (Freire, 2000), critical dialogue and Socratic questions facilitate learners’ evaluations of their own action and the actions of their peers. Asking students to analyse their everyday experiences through a critical framework inspires them to think differently about how people interact in the world. The practice of transformative action in the African Centred curriculum challenges learners’ to think critically about social problems, through a socio-cultural and political lens. The question becomes, how are micro practices reflective of macro socio-political processes? To address such questions, collaborative exercises should be such as would challenge learners to imagine how and why various actors respond to individual or social issue, facilitating students’ grasp of social, cultural, political, and economic factors

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that influence human experience. Collaborative exercises promote group participation that combines tools for consciousness-raising and critical transformative action development. According to Hatcher et al. (2010), these may include, dialogues that promotes reflective questioning about the connections between personal and societal issues; role plays and other participatory activities; discussions grounded within the daily, shared realities of those involved in the consciousness-raising processes; co-constructing new knowledge and generating empowered understandings and identities and as well identifying potential solutions to local problems. These is also in agreement with Ginwright and James (2002) who observed that small groups foster a constructive processes in which participants are allowed the time and given the encouragement to create physically and psychologically respectful space that permits exploration of connections between personal and social problems. Additionally, during feedback provision sessions, learners are given the opportunity to share their transformative action progress, challenges, and concerns with each other, while offering strategies and suggestions for thinking through those challenges. These exercises are effective in educating learners about the relevance of critical thinking and acting beyond the classroom. This realization confirms WallinRuschman (2018) and Delia and Krasny (2018) argument that, the development of critical consciousness counteracts the destructive impact of oppression and promotes social action against the forces of oppression. And also the argument by Maton (2008), that, critical consciousness is an active, participatory process through which individuals and groups gain greater control over their identities and lives, protect human rights, and reduce social injustice is supported. The Alternative African centred curriculum should prioritize learner-centred teaching methods in which learners take on small-group work throughout the semester using interactive media and online discussion boards. Incorporating group activities and instructional technology in the classroom should provide an infrastructure for supporting peer learning and collaborative knowledge production. Grounding the curriculum in learners’ lives and needs creates an explicit connection between their experiences and society at large. Educators should schedule initial and ongoing critical conversations using reflective questions, maps of social capital, and questionnaires for exploring social identities and systems of privilege and oppression. These observations find meaning and expression in Abraham (1969), position that the education of the African child was essentially pragmatic, in that virtue was inculcated more through exercise than through precept. And again Moumouni (1968) insisted that, far from being undecided and incoherent, education in Africa was so structured that, from the time of birth until adulthood, the African is subjected to a well thought out plan of inculcation of values, discipline, education, reflection and all that is needed to ensure an adult who will be useful to the overall growth and development of society. The alternative African centred development framework for development education should prioritize community-based education. For learning beyond the classroom, Jemal and Bussey (2018) reveal that, the opportunity for community-based pedagogy represents an additional non-hierarchical approach that builds on the needs and expertise of a given community. Smith and Jemal (2015) show that,

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community-based education includes: self-accountability for reflecting on power dynamics as they relate to the professional role and aspects of personal identity; continuously examining how personal biases, assumptions, and normative values influence perceptions of differences between individuals; owning one’s contributions to social injustice; and developing partnerships to foster social justice.

7 Conclusion The African centred development education question occupies a special place in the existing theories of development. All theorists of development irrespective of their ideological orientation share the view that without transforming Africa’s economy, its emergence into the ranks of modern developed societies and departure from underdevelopment will not happen. Strategies advocated by theorists working in the area of development education lie in the pedagogy of Freire (1970). Freire argued that education is socially transformative and empowering process both at an individual level and in the broader society. Education was therefore regarded as channel through which unfair and exploitative social, cultural and economic relations could change for better through practice that combines reflection, analysis, debate and action. Khoo and McCloskey (2015) revealed that one of the challenges for development educators in the industrialised world for over the last four decades has been implementing Freire’s radical conception of education within contemporary practice. In order for African centred approaches to avoid such downturns suffered by the industrialised work over the last four decades, Annette (2009) lists numerous approaches to pursue in the African centred paradigm: leveraging existing knowledge and educational resources available within the community setting, drawing deeper connections between students’ lived experience in their surrounding environment and their professional development, enhancing engagement with traditionally marginalized students, such as first-generation college students, and students from lower income communities as well as encouraging opportunities for students to navigate effective change in their local social systems (e.g., community organizing efforts, political advocacy etc. Strand (2000) suggested the inclusion or engagement of learners in communitybased participatory research, which challenges traditional definitions of how and by whom knowledge is produced. These opportunities and tools are what is needed according to Freire (2000) to break the silence surrounding injustice and to progress toward critical transformation action (Freire, 2000). In this African centred development education paradigm, targeting critical transformative action development, educators should be dedicated to inspiring students to use social theory in creative ways to address social injustice issues, while increasing the diversity of voices and perspectives heard in the classroom and beyond. Additionally, critical transformative action development, in the African centred development education perspective should align with the concepts of pre-colonial education in Africa (Ubuntu Network, 2017). Moumouni (1968) observed that,

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although parents, nuclear and extended family members considered it their primary responsibility to ensure that their wards were well socialized according to the requirements of the society, traditional education in Africa also relied extensively on community effort. The high importance attached to education makes the popular African saying that “it takes a village to raise a child.” Very relevant and underscores the strong message to the world that, even learners born to less privileged parents have as much opportunity to transcend their economic disadvantage by being taught by both the rich and the poor alike in the broader community. The transformative action model fosters environments that promote the values of democracy, justice, and equity in the classroom. It encompasses a learning style that is non-hierarchical and presumes that, everyone has knowledge, everyone is an expert in their own experience, individuals are more alike than different and people can unite around their similarities and learn from their differences. These tenets, according to Jemal and Bussey (2018) reframe cultural varieties in the classroom as an opportunity for enhanced learning rather than a barrier to knowledge production. Dei (1993) put emphasis on the discourse on education, democracy, sustainable development, human rights and social justice in Africa and argued that sustainable development in Africa must cover the domains of human rights, participatory democracy and local involvement and provide input in the decision making processes. Sustainable development in Africa must extend beyond the narrow concerns over the natural environment in national economic development to include genuine and comprehensive democratic reforms as well as a redistribution of social wealth. The rights of all learners; women, children, the rich and the poor to the satisfaction of the basic needs of food, shelter, clothing, education and health care must be treated as equal components of the struggle for an African Centred development education in Africa.

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African American content in the school curriculum: Proceedings of the first national conference October 1989 (pp. 5–24). Aaron Press. Nwauwa, A. O. (1996). Imperialism, academe and nationalism: Britain and university education for Africans, 1860–1960. Frank Cass. O’Flaherty, J., & Liddy, M. (2018). The impact of development education and education for sustainable development interventions: A synthesis of the research. Environmental Education Research, 24(7), 1031–1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1392484 Ramugondo, E. (2015). Occupational consciousness. Journal of Occupational Science, 22(4), 488– 501. https://doi.org/10.1080/14427591.2015.1042516 Ramugondo, E. (2020). Decoloniality of doing: A necessary disobedient praxis for health. Paper Presented at Decolonial Summer Schools at the University of Kwazulu Natal and the University of Cape Town. Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe underdeveloped Africa (p. 312). Bogle-L’Ouverture Publications. Smith, M. (2010). Gender, whiteness and ‘other others’ in the academy. In S. Thobani, S. Razack, & M. Smith (Eds.), States of race (pp. 37–59). Between the Lines. Smith, V., & Jemal, A. (2015). Addressing the health of formerly imprisoned persons in a distressed neighborhood through a community collaborative board. Health Promotion Practice, 16(5), 733– 744. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839915588293 Spalding, R. J. (1993). Capitalists and revolution in Nicaragua: Opposition and accommodation 1979–1993 (p. 334). The University of North Carolina Press. Starkey, H. (1994). Development education and human rights Education. In A. Osler (Ed.), Development education (pp. 11–31). Cassels. Strand, K. J. (2000). Community-based research as pedagogy. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7, 85–96. Thomas, A., Barrie, R., Brunner, J., Clawson, A., Hewitt, A., Jeremie-Brink, G., & Rowe-Johnson, M. (2014). Assessing critical consciousness in youth and young adults. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(3), 485–496. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12132 Ubuntu Network. (2017). A framework for integrating development education. Accessed February 26, 2021. http://www.ubuntu.ie/our-work/framework.html UNESCO. (2002). Education for sustainability—From Rio to Johannesburg: Lessons learnt from a decade of commitment. UNESCO. UNESCO. (2014). Global citizenship education—Preparing learners for the challenges of the twenty-first century (Online). Accessed 26 February, 2021. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/ 0022/002277/227729e.pdf UNESCO. (2015). Sustainable development goals (Online). Accessed February 27, 2021. http:// en.unesco.org/sdgs Wallin-Ruschman, J. (2018). “I thought it was just knowledge but it’s definitely a lot of guts”: Exploring the emotional and relational dimensions of critical consciousness development. The Urban Review, 50(1), 3–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-017-0427-8 Wa Thiong’o, N. (1987). Decolonizing the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Heinemann. Windsor, L., Benoit, E., & Dunlap, E. (2010). Dimensions of oppression in the lives of impoverished Black women who use drugs. Journal of Black Studies, 41(1), 21–39. https://doi.org/10.1177/ 0021934708326875 Windsor, L., Jemal, A., & Benoit, E. (2014). Community wise: Paving the way for empowerment in community reentry. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 37(5), 501–511. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.023 Windsor, L., Jessell, L., Lassiter, T., & Benoit, E. (2015). Community wise: A formative evaluation of a community based health intervention. International Public Health Journal, 7(1), 79–90. NIHMSID 714802. Windsor, L., Pinto, R., Benoit, E., Jessell, L., & Jemal, A. (2014). Community wise: Addressing oppression to promote individual and community health. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 14(4), 405–420. https://doi.org/10.1080/1533256X.2014.962141

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World Bank. (1998). Indigenous knowledge definitions, concepts and applications (pp. 1–44). Retrieved on March 7, 2021 from: https://chm.cbd.int/api/v2013/documents/4A27922D-31BCEEFF-7940-DB40D6DB706B/attachments/Hoda%20Yacoub%20-%20IK%20Report%20(1). pdf Zaff, J., Boyd, M., Li, Y., Lerner, J. V., & Lerner, R. M. (2010). Active and engaged citizenship: Multi-group and longitudinal factorial analysis of an integrated construct of civic engagement. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 736–750. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-010-9541-6

Chapter 3

Decolonizing African Development Education Through Indigenous Knowledge Delali Amuzu

Abstract Any worthy system of education must extol cultural worldviews. However, this seemingly modest mission has eluded Ghana, Africa, and its diaspora owing to Arabian and European imperialist disruptions. In Ghana, Eurocentric perspectives have usurped and placed African knowledge systems in servitude. Conversations to redress this anomaly in African higher education have gained some traction owing to the importance African worldviews to the development of Africa and Africans. Notwithstanding the destruction of ancient African literature and historical artefacts, the continent still wields, among others, its rich oral arts. Proverbs make up one of these arts and have served both as a medium and knowledge system in inter-generational education. In this chapter, I employ African proverbs to advocate for African higher education [with a focus on Ghana] to serve a public purpose. The need to analyse these proverbs is important because of the cultural significance and foundation it provides towards meaningful education. It offers an opportunity to strengthen the mainstreaming of African worldviews in schooling [education]. Overall, this endeavour contributes to the broader deliberations on decolonizing knowledge and African education. Keywords African proverbs · Higher education · Public purpose · Indigenous knowledge

1 Introduction We cannot underestimate the role of education as a mechanism to nurture human resources for development. Over the centuries, education across societies has attempted to employ knowledge, skills and attitudes within their cultural perspectives to enhance humanity and preserve society. Africa, as a geography, consciousness and humanity, has been significantly alienated from its consciousness and forced

D. Amuzu (B) University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_3

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into alternate consciousness owing to Arabian and European imperialism. Presentday vestiges cause Tefe (2012) to argue that what constitutes education in Ghana is the remainder of an over 200-year-old legacy of British colonialism. As a result, proficiency in English is both a status symbol and a powerful political tool. And the colonized mind tends to exude some false sense of emancipation when these elements merge with perceived European mannerisms. To Mazama (2005), it is nothing but holding a “footnote status in a Whiteman’s book” (p. 256). Simply put, the consciousness shaping the schooling process in Ghana and many parts of Africa is that of its colonizer. What remains African is vague. In Ghana, given that the formal school system has become the sole determinant of education and the ‘educated’, we perceive the content of the schooling process as worthy when it mimics the colonizer’s. As such, the conception, aims and purposes of education, for instance, continue to subscribe to European colonial exclusivity (Amuzu, 2020). Obanya (2011) thus argues that, while all societies customarily conceive the educated as “the cultured; in Africa, the educated is the de-cultured” (p. xxv). Regrettably, educational reforms since the 1960s fail to radically confront foundational issues bordering on philosophy and purposes “instead, reforms have simply tinkered with curricula, school calendar and the mere proliferation of institutions” (Obanya, 2011, p. xxv). According to Marah (2006), indigenous education in Africa aimed at nurturing character in line with accepted cultural norms and values. The emphasis was social and humanistic, and helped in transgenerational transfer of cultural heritage. Therefore, prior to European conquest in the fifteenth century onwards, Africans had adequate notions of education to function in their environment. Ocitti (1973) remarks that African education, like any meaningful system of education, had its objectives, scope and methods clearly reflecting cultural patterns. Arguing further that “a total rejection of the African heritage will leave African societies in a vacuum that can only be filled with confusion, loss of identity, and a total break in intergenerational communication” (p. 105). Undoubtedly, European higher education in Africa deprived Africans of knowledge of self, distorted African history and disregarded local aspirations. However, the colonist’s military might, advancing scientific ventures and co-optation of local actors into the school system made it successful. This form of education sustains the master–slave relationship and progressively, the highly schooled [‘educated’] natives become enslavers subjugating their citizenry, especially those with limited or no schooling. The self-seeking colonial aspiration made schooling an exclusive venture thwarting any meaningful endeavours towards the public purpose. I define the public purpose as values that foster the common good. Whereas traditional African notions of education closely incorporate all aspects of society (Achebe, 2008; Marah, 2006; Nukunya, 2003), McCain (1979) says higher education was peripheral to the aims of British colonialism. They did not design academic courses to activate socio-economic development of Africa, although academic certificates propelled social mobility. Accordingly, Nketsia (2013) argues that the Western concept of schooling disconnects and has little relevance to Ghanaian society. Nevertheless, we cherish academic achievements because of the privileges

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it confers in the established colonial bureaucracy and also offer avenues to escape ‘traditional professions’ like farming and fishing. The lure of these new opportunities increases the desire for schooling, marginalising traditional African systems of education (see Nukunya, 2003). Nketsia (2013) therefore contends that highly schooled Africans are torn between two loyalties and worlds: the bait of Eurocentric ideals characterised by individualism emphasised in school; and the compulsion to remain faithful to African traditions, which frown on values of individualism. Despite this dilemma, the ultimate motivation for higher education in Ghana is not a preparation towards service but possession of power (economic, social and political) over those with little or no schooling. Power expressed in a manner of the victor over vanquished; exemplifying the legacy of European colonialism and the civilisation it gave. The colonial enterprise, though multifaceted and complex, was primarily an economic adventure to expand the tentacles of the colonizer. Systems and institutions it created had fundamental economic aspirations significantly geared to benefit the colonist. The structure of the school and its quintessence served essentially economic functions, contrary to African social and humanistic persuasions. Schooling became an avenue to nurture human capital to fuel the colonial bureaucratic machinery and Africans conception of education accordingly “was shaped by the introduction of relationships between educational achievement and socioeconomic advancement” (Gwanfogbe, 2011, p. 48). These foundations still shape and sustain Ghana’s higher education, thwarting the public purpose even though governments continue to fund higher education, however insignificantly. Elsewhere, neoliberal ideologies based on individual competitiveness and competitive markets as well as acts of corruption by ‘educated’ people in leadership also work to undermine the public purpose. The need to denounce the “footnote status” Mazama mentions and Obanya’s philosophical concerns necessitate an anti-colonial posture to African education. The anticolonial prism is “an approach to theorizing colonial and re-colonial relations and the implications of imperial structures on the processes of knowledge production and validation, the understanding of indigeneity, and the pursuit of agency, resistance and subjective politics” (Dei, 2006, p. 2). This approach is vital and needs prioritisation because “when information is also colonized, it is essential that the resistance must interrogate issues related to education, information and intellectual transformations” (Asante, 2000 cited in Dei & Kempf, 2006, p. ix). Despite the destruction of Africa’s ancient literature and historical artefacts through invasions, the continent still wields its rich oral arts. Avoseh (2013) states that life in African societies provides extensive possibilities for theorisation. These epistemological frameworks have guided education of Africans over the centuries because “the holistic worldview of the traditional system places a strong emphasis on the centrality of the human element and orature in the symmetrical relationship between life and learning” (p. 236). In line with the call for a renaissance for African perspectives in scholarship, this chapter seeks to revisit and employ an African knowledge system [proverbs], as a framework to advocate for a public purpose higher education. African proverbs are an embodiment of philosophies, ideas and values that offer alternative perspectives in

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higher education. I employ proverbs across different African countries and capture the elicited proverbs under two major themes: humanistic, ethical, civic and community values, and togetherness, collaboration and collectivism. It is both my conviction and contention that amongst others, the values embedded in the themes are central to nurturing a public purpose consciousness required for development. The next section presents the methods I employed to assemble the proverbs and subsequent analysis. After that, there is a section on the need for alternative paradigms in African higher education—a further justification for Indigenous African perspectives and relevance of this chapter. I highlight definitional and conceptual issues about proverbs before discussing the thematic areas. I continue to underscore some social expectations required in African societies and end with the challenges associated with embracing a collectivist culture.

2 Methods I sourced the African proverbs considered in this study from published, unpublished and oral sources. While African proverbs have been used to study gender roles and relationships (see Dickson & Mbosowo, 2014; Kamwendo & Kaya, 2016; Hussein, 2005), Avoseh (2013) employs them to highlight the power of oral literature and as a theoretical framework for lifelong learning in Indigenous African Education. Considering the sophisticated nature of African proverbs, interpreting them requires some understanding of the socio-cultural, politico-economic, material and psychological elements that possibly influence their creation, usage and application. In other instances, deeper understanding of the language and historical accounts could influence proverbs and their understanding. For example, when ÈVe’s literally meaning “the chilsay dren of the land are being sold out by their own people and fear has befallen the land and adjourning neighbours.” However, an individual without a deep understanding of the language would neither understand the proverb nor determine its essence. The import of this message, like other proverbs, could vary. However, it illustrates the trepidation that engulfs a community when betrayed by an insider. I elicited proverbs that project humanism, ethical, civic and community values as well as togetherness, a common sense of purpose and collaboration. I also found that the elicited proverbs also highlighted social expectations and challenges associated with living communally. These formed the themes under which I discussed the proverbs to advocate for education to serve the common good of society. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was the method used to analyse the proverbs. According to Rogers et al. (2005), CDA helps to “answer questions about the relationships between language and society” (p. 365). By extension, it could also help in understanding the outlook of different societies. I highlight the obvious superficial meaning of the proverbs and employ the deeper meaning in the discussion. According to Philips and Jørgensen (2006) as cited in Gyan et al. (2020), a fundamental principle of CDA is that “discursive practices contribute to the construction of social

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identities and relations, discourse constitutes the social world and is constituted by other social practices, and language should be analyzed within its social context” (p. 24). As a knowledge system, proverbs hold discourses capable of translating into praxis to start social change.

3 What It Means to Decolonize Even though people and societies have resisted acts of oppression over the centuries, the term decolonization gained roots in the struggles against European and Arabian colonization. The concept has subsequently developed post-1960s, carrying multiple meanings that transcend a concept, theory and philosophy depending on its usage. Its scope is as vast as the imperial reach of Europe; therefore, any attempt to define or conceptualize this phenomenon requires enormous nuance considering its contextual variations. For instance, talking about decolonization within Ghana’s education framework requires meticulous contextualization since the entire system has been colonized; be it process, content, structure or modes of delivery. It may further extend to dismantling the “tide of bureaucratization” (Mbembe, 2016, p. 31). Irrespective of its definitional pluralities, decolonization is primarily an immense philosophical activity. And the cultivation of this philosophical consciousness becomes a prerequisite to detect and address consequent mutations and guises under which they may appear. Without belabouring the definitional issues, within the field of education, humanities or social science, a common thread in definitions centre on denouncing the universalism that accompanied acts of expansionism by invading cultures and the consequent epistemicide on Indigenous ways of knowing. The need to dissuade the falsities of Eurocentric universalism leads to Mbembe’s (2016) mention of Boaventura de Sousa or Enrique Dussel’s contention that knowledge can only adduce universality when it is pluriversal. Arguing further that attaining decolonization will replace universities with “pluriversity” (p. 36); which is a plurality of epistemic dispositions. To him,“it is a process that does not necessarily abandon the notion of universal knowledge for humanity, but which embraces it via a horizontal strategy of openness to dialogue among different epistemic traditions” (Mbembe, 2016, p. 37). What I mean by decolonization in this chapter is the advancement of African epistemic traditions that advance Indigenous quest for intellectual uprightness and development in its broad sense. The need for decolonization and intellectual uprightness has instigated colonized people’s quest to assert their agency through the promotion of Indigenous worldviews because accepting and understanding these perspectives is fundamental to socio-cultural and politico-economic advancement (see Magni, 2017; Mugambiwa, 2018). Considering that most Indigenous societies embrace a holistic outlook to life, decolonization and promotion of Indigenous knowledge must embrace Land and Earthly teachings besides curriculum, pedagogic and instructional implications. This is necessary because Indigenous People’s understanding of ecology and consequent spiritual relationship with the Land influence their resource management and

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sustainable development and social relations. And importantly, the return of Lands to Indigenous Peoples. In New Zealand and Canada, for instance, efforts are being made to integrate Indigenous concepts, ethos, values and knowledge into different levels and aspects of their education system to challenge dominant colonial narratives. Learners are also taught to traverse the intricacies of Indigenous knowledge systems (McNamara & Naepi, 2018). Kaupapa M¯aori education movement in New Zealand (Smith, 2017) and Neeginan initiative in Winnipeg, Canada are drives that seek to advance Indigenous knowledge systems and worldviews (Horning & Baumbrough, 2020). Elsewhere, Huambachano (2018) highlights how Indigenous perspectives on food practices and ethos can be employed towards food sovereignty in Aotearoa New Zealand and Peru. These studies and cartographies of Indigeneity reiterate the Indigenous stance that humanity is concentrically connected to nature, thus a meaningful alignment to its elements and principles to live in harmony with nature.

4 Towards Alternative Paradigms To pave way for Eurocentric educational enterprise devoid of African philosophy, it was expedient for European missionaries and colonialists to argue that Africa had no educational institutions (Higgs, 2008). They left African knowledge systems on the margins, creating a deficit requiring reparation. To this end, textualizing African oral literature traditions becomes an indispensable way of attempting to mainstream hitherto disparaged forms of knowing. According to Avoseh (2013), African ancestral sayings serves as theoretical frameworks for African education at all levels. Frameworks established on a complex interplay of human understanding, extensive interaction and observation of nature and spiritual experiences. They aggregate to lay the path for meaningful education to nurture worthy character in people to become active citizens. African education since its earliest antiquity has been preoccupied with nurturing well-intentioned character. In Kemit (ancient Egypt) for instance, the principles of Ma’at—truth, justice, morality, order, reciprocity, harmony, balance and law served as a yardstick for governance and social relationships, and perceived as the foremost ethical principle existing exclusively with the Divine at creation (Asante, 2012; Karenga, 2003). Furthermore, the Instructions of Ptahhotep were writings that presented moral prescriptions to people, especially those in higher positions. Education at all levels and forms should help people attain Ma’at for stability in life and concord with nature. Failure bequeathed instability and chaos in a person’s life. Ancient Kemetic insights into the interdependency of the living and Ancestors is highlighted in the Book of Ani, where it states that “(ii) pour libation for your father and mother who rest in the valley of the dead. …For as you do for your parents, your children will do for you also” (Karenga, 1984 cited in Maison, 2010, p. 60). Furthermore, (ix) says, “do not sit when one who is older than you is standing, even if you have achieved higher status in your profession” (Karenga, 1984 cited in Maison,

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2010, p. 60). Elsewhere, the book of Kheti (i) encourages people to “be skilled in speech so that you will succeed. The tongue of a man is his sword … truth comes to him in its essential form, shaped in the saying of the Ancestors” (Karenga, 1984 cited in Maison, 2010, p. 60). Nurturing people with worthy character still permeates Africa: the Yoruba of Nigeria’s philosophical and cultural concept to describe such character is Omoluwabi or Omoluabi (Ogunyemi & Obiorah, 2020). The Igbo also of Nigeria refer to it as Ezigbo Mmadu (Obioha, 2020). The supernatural continues to hold significance in contemporary Ghanaian worldviews. Nukunya (2003), for instance, illustrates the orientation to the supernatural, life after death, and how it influences education: …death does not mark the end of life. When death occurs, it is only the physical body that is affected but the soul goes to the land of spirits to join other departed souls. In the land of the spirits, the dead are able to watch over the affairs of the earthly world, punishing offenders and rewarding those who conform to accepted ways and put up exemplary behaviours. (p. 245)

Tangwa (2011) submits that spirituality binds traditional African education systems to culture and ethics because of the closely shared metaphysical worldviews. Any Africa education bereft of these ideals will be unfamiliar and isolating. For instance, ethical prescriptions make it a taboo for a physician to recommend to a pregnant woman any herb or mixture of herbs to abort pregnancy. It is equally a taboo for a hunter with expertise of the vegetation to sell or give a non-edible species of any animal to others to consume. According to Tangwa (2011) Africans emphasize ethics because “…the practice of any profession or trade in the traditional setting always involved ritual restrictions and taboos, calculated to prevent abuse of specialized knowledge” (p. 97). Violating ethical norms attracts “ritual expiation, cleansing and purification; otherwise, the violators were liable to encounter serious misfortune” (Tangwa, 2011, p. 97). Despite the intrusions into African culture, there is still a firm belief among Africans that human supplications for blessing or clemency from the Supreme Being depend on the moral uprightness of society. The communal nature and inter-relatedness of African communities also form chains of relationships that make the effects of an individual’s immorality or disregard for stipulated rules very extensive. Thus, a collective responsibility, as non-adherence transcends the individual (Nukunya, 2003; Tangwa, 2011). Tangwa (2011) therefore espouses that African’s preoccupation with worthy character and deeds is an “obsession about ethics in human acts and actions” (p. 93). He advocates for its centricity in contemporary African education because “within African cultures, every individual is perceived as essentially a relational being whose acts and actions or behaviour impact directly on others in the family/community, a community of significant others in ever widening concentric circles of relatedness” (p. 93). Ancient African wisdom is conserved in many things, including language. African proverbs become important aspects of language and culture worthy of investigation to realize meaningful education. They are witty, insightful, nurturing, manifest in daily expressions and promote pride in Indigenous knowledge. These make proverbs a significant knowledge base for African higher education because of their epistemological and ontological insights. To extensively quote Maison (2010):

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D. Amuzu There is a multiplicity of indigenous African proverbs which do not only link up respect for age, the past and knowledge but also emphasize that the role of the present in the future is to build on the wisdom of the past. Although the future does not exist, nonetheless, it encourages, it inspires, it gives hope, it helps to set goals – but those are all extracts that cannot be borrowed to build in the present because the future is yet to exist. The present is where building goes on to bring anything into being – but there is no finished model in the present – the present is the process of seeking the actualization of future desires. …The past of any people allows them to choose from the best of their Ancestors and it is culture that preserves the past so that it can be used. (p. 60)

Tapping into African proverbs contributes to bridging the gap between higher education institutions and society. It helps restore shunned African cultural outlooks and has the potential to help learners nurture cultural pride. To Avoseh (2013), proverbs offer theoretical perspectives and “can be used to highlight the power of the spoken word in indigenous African education” (p. 237). Mbiti (1969) cited in Avoseh (2013) sees “proverbs and oral traditions as part of the source of the philosophical systems of many African peoples” (p. 238). Elsewhere, Simmons and Dei’s (2012) anti-colonial theory stipulates that colonized people should seek indigenous knowledge because it holds the key to their mental emancipation. Simply, the colonised must embrace their culture for liberation.

5 Proverbs: An Overview Merriam Webster online dictionary defines proverbs as “a brief popular saying”, “a brief popular epigram or maxim: adage or a byword”. Oxford dictionaries define it as “a short, well-known pithy saying, stating a general truth or piece of advice”. Proverbs have had a long history in African higher education. Amenemope [circa 1290 B.C] was among the earliest sages to work on African proverbs in Kemet [ancient Egypt]. His philosophical expositions centre on how proverbs offer paths to live worthy lives. According to Ogunmodede (2004), Amenemope teaches that “the proper appreciation of the ancestors was the basis of society, since it was they who established proverbs as the source of wisdom” (p. 88). In African societies, the value of words survive principally in proverbs; they manifest grandly in all rites of passage, festivals, resolution of disputes among others. To quote Avoseh (2013), “proverbs provide foundation for creating objective and useable knowledge, which ensures that individual conduct aligns with community values in line with the dictates of the ancestors” (p. 240). According to Dzobo (1973), Africans herald proverbs with the proclamation “so said the elders” (p. xi). Furthermore, “proverbs contain experience, wisdom and valid counsel that are acknowledged by all. Thus, the collective thought, beliefs and values of the African people can be discerned from their proverbs” (Dzobo, 1973, p. xi). They are thus a repository of intellect for the wise and used in everyday verbal communication. Using proverbs requires tact and astuteness because of its intricacies. BrookmanAmissah (1986) highlights this by stating that “an essential aspect of a proverb is its

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contextuality” owing to its “considerable flexibility in the application of proverbs to situations” (p. 75). In traditional African scholarship, situations and circumstances play an important role in choosing appropriate figures of speech to identify and stress the value of proverbs (Avoseh, 2013). Avoseh identifies the significance Igbo people place on the art of talking. For example, Achebe (1994) cited in Avoseh (2013) states that “proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten” (p. 238). Palm oil is used metaphorically, given its nutritional essence across many West African societies. Avoseh (2013) further says that “literarily, proverbs are race horses that words use; and when words are lost, proverbs are used to search and find them. In other words, proverbs go beyond the generic to unearth meaning and provide clarification” (p. 238). Some characteristics of African proverbs are brevity, criticality, abstraction, sagacity factuality and occasional humour. They are usually an outcome of lived experiences and sometimes borne out of divine inspirations that require unique aptitudes to comprehend (Abubakar, 2011; Achebe, 2008; Brookman-Amissah, 1986; Mustapha et al., 2009). Although I employ proverbs across Africa in this chapter, I tap significantly into proverbs from the ÈVe people [ÈVe is commonly written as Ewe and pronounced vhe]. The language of the ÈVe is thus ÈVegbe [pronounced vhe-gbhe]. Proverbs are known in ÈVe as lododo [singular] and lododowo [plural]. Geographically, the ÈVes are home to the Volta Region of Ghana, located on the south-eastern coast towards Republic of Togo and extending northwards to border Oti region. The ÈVe language [with its variants] is also spoken in the Republic of Togo and some parts of Benin and Nigeria. Like other Africans, ÈVe’s hold a holistic worldview regarding governance, family structure and systems, spirituality, education, religion, issues of morality and social relations. Similarly, African proverbs, both in form and interpretations permeate different linguistic groups across the continent and the African diaspora. Their contemporary relevance provides further proof of their insight, appropriateness and interminable character. Proverbs are cultivated based on years of intricate observation, examination and analysis of nature and social interactions. These processes qualify as scientific , which means, ventures; for instance, the ÈVe say that “regulate your salt intake to avert chest pains”. These ancients knew that excessive salt intake causes heart disease. The importance of observation is succinctly captured in Setswana/Tswana (a , which implies that Bantu language spoken in Southern Africa), “words are from what you observe” (Chilisa, 2012, p. 79). Since proverbs offer frameworks that originate from local environments, they are relevant and easy to relate to. Chilisa (2012) therefore encourages twenty-first century African researchers to “draw from indigenous knowledge systems to theorize about methods and research processes” (p. 100). My use of proverbs as an African perspective has a sturdy basis in literature. I draw inspiration from the works of Abubakar (2011), Avoseh (2013), Chilisa (2012), Okoro (2010) and Tagoe (2012) who support the need for African education to transcend dominant frameworks.

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6 The Multifaceted Nature of Proverbs Although proverbs provide a wealth of philosophical, theoretical and conceptual ideas in African higher education, they remain very convoluted and may appear to a neophyte as presenting conflicting ideas, a reason for its utilisation in higher education as a pedagogical tool and knowledge system. For instance, the Akan (an ethnic group in Ghana) proclaim in Twi language that “ emere nsoo a, woye a woye kwa”. This proverb may frown on cutting corners or employing dubious means to succeed in life. However, when taken literally, it translates as “until an appointed time, all efforts are in vain”. A person’s inability to appreciate the deeper meaning embedded in this proverb could encourage laziness and promote sluggish attitudes because they would idle and wait for that appointed time. It is also said in ÈVe that egbe t yehia, ets le Mawu fe asi me —the proverb emphasises the need to prioritise tasks and undertake endeavours that require immediate urgency and agency. However, it can also be interpreted as living for the moment and leaving the future in God’s hands because literally, the proverb translates as “today is essential, tomorrow is in God’s hands”. As foregrounded, it is critical to decipher the veiled meanings of African proverbs and their contextual usage. The next section looks at the thematic discussions. I have grouped the elicited proverbs under two major themes: humanistic, ethical, civic and community values; and togetherness, collaboration and collectivism. It is both my conviction and contention that the themes would contribute to nurture a public purpose consciousness in African higher education and consequent development.

7 Humanistic, Ethical, Civic and Community Values Humanistic, ethical, civic and community values are central to African culture. Throwing insights into these ethos, Delano (1979) cited in Avoseh (2013) employs a Yoruba proverb as illustration kòkòrò burúkú bí a kò bá tètè s fun, h r hùrù r kò ní j ” “ (p. 246). It translates as, a person should hasten to caution a neighbour from feasting on harmful insects because the cough that accompanies their subsequent illness would disturb their sleep. To make meaning out of this proverb would require delving into the residential patterns in traditional African societies; they are usually close-knit, thus creating proximate social relations and interactions. The proverb highlights the communal, humanistic, ethical and civic consciousness and responsibilities expected in the African worldview. The moral is to be each other’s keeper; however, neglecting the essence of these values inhibit the devotion to the common goal. Also, the contagious nature of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and the need to ensure observance of prescribed protocols, especially social distancing, reiterate the significance of humanistic, ethical and civic consciousness.

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In African cosmology, to lack a sense of community violates normative rules. History and culture shape ontological, axiological, epistemological and aesthetical schools of thought to help navigate life’s trajectory. Education at all levels seeks to promote community consciousness because individual liberties are often a product of shared freedoms. Despite the prevailing idiosyncrasies associated with governance across Africa, the quintessence of any worthy governance system must gravitate towards the common interest. However, African attributes like consultation and consensus building have given way for unnecessary competition, creating tension filled states. This leads Higgs (2008 ) and Letseka ( 2000 ) to remind us that an essential facet of a traditional African education was to ensure peaceful coexistence. Although the consultative, consensus building, humanistic, ethical, civic and community centred values are fast weaning, academics must strive towards their meaning “the resuscitation and sustenance. ÈVes articulate that bird speaks the language of birds”. Simply put, a person’s identity should reflect a communal identity. Mbiti (1970) cited in Higgs (2008), concisely captures it as “I am because we are; and since we are, therefore I am” (p. 165). Expressing similar sentiments, Kenyatta (1965) espouses that to Gikuyu’s [Kenyan ethnic group] “nobody is an isolated individual, or rather, his uniqueness is a secondary fact about him; first and foremost he is several people’s relative and several people’s contemporary” (p. 297). Adding his view, Letseka (2000) says that community centred consciousness is prominent in African value-system because of the mutual inter-dependency of humanity. This outlook departs sharply from European individualism captured in the Rene Descartes’ famous existentialist quote “cogito ergo sum”—“I think, therefore I am”. The emergence and developement of regional blocs like Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS], Southern African Development Community [SADC], East African Community [EAC] are all indicative of the importance of nurturing a sense of community. On the continental level, the formation of the Organisation of African Unity [OAU] and subsequent transformation to African Union [AU] further echo the potential synergy derived from affirming community values. These humanistic, ethical, civic and community values are central to achieving the public purpose and I entreat higher education institutions to employ educational methods and activities that promote these aims.

8 Togetherness, Collaboration and Collectivism As foregrounded, collectivist consciousness in African societies upholds the idea of togetherness; possibly, because it can translate into nurturing agency towards a common sense of purpose. The Ga people [ethnic group in Ghana] articulate that anokwale ni dwaa man , a wie-e —“a truth that might destroy a nation is unspoken”. —“offering a handshake creates affinity”. ÈVe’s base ÈVe’s say that, the proverb on the consideration that an enemy will not or does not offer a handwhich means shake. Another ÈVe proverb articulates that

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“a single tree cannot make a forest”—no individual is omniscient and an island. These proverbs reiterate the notion that an individual cannot constitute a family or community, thus encourages togetherness and teamwork. The advocacy is for cooperation and unity among people and abhorrence on excessive exclusivity consid, this ÈVe proverb ering the strength in unity. translates as “the foot does not go on a mission leaving the thigh at home”—illustrating the interconnectivity of human relationships in society. Humans, as social beings, need each other to survive effectively in society hence the ÈVe proverb e lo lolo uu hã la, azimevi ko wò nye translating as “no matter the size of a crocodile, it was still hatched from an egg”. The proverb ultimately encapsulates humility, promotes the veneration of the forebears, parents and elders in society because at the end of the day, irrespective of one’s achievements, they are part of a geneology and an outcome of interactions between humanity and the ecology. As a result, the bigger picture—the collective interest—should not be traded for personal gains. A proverb in ÈVe that teaches collaboration is , meaning “a person can still stand on the crooked branch of a tree in order to cut the upright one”. The tree in this context could symbolise life, while the crooked and upright branches portray the challenges of life. However, navigating these issues largely depends on how a person collaborates or taps into the expertise of others. Another ÈVe proverb meaning, “it is because of death that a person joins a cultural troupe”. In traditional ÈVe communities, people do not join cultural troupes for wages, as they largely operate on reciprocity. The concept of reciprocity permeates traditional African life, manifesting in satisfying socially stipulated responsibilities like payment of funeral levies, taking part in funeral activities amongst others. This worldview emphasizes selfless service and cautions against excessive monetization of life because of the belief that selfless acts reward in different ways. Commenting on the philosophies and mores of mutualism in African culture, Letseka (2000) highlights a Zulu proverb, umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu , which indicates that “a person depends on others just as much as others depend on him/her” (p. 182). suggests that “old bones from previous The ÈVe proverb hunting cannot be used to prepare a new sauce”. The proverb calls for renewed knowledge and transformation because old bones signify obsolescence, a further illustration of the importance and awareness of the dynamism in nature. Gyekye (1987) elucidates on the foundations of human ethos in the African community by stating that “…in African socioethical thought generally – a concept that animates other intellectual activities and forms of behaviour, including religious behaviour, and provides continuity, resilience, nourishment, and meaning to life – that concept would most probably be humanism” (p. 158). Considering the centrality of public purpose in traditional African higher education, it is not surprising that Ghana’s premier university, University of Ghana, reiterates the public cause in its anthem by encouraging both scholars and students to “proceed in unity to uphold the public cause” (Nketia, 1998).

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To further extend my position on the public cause, I argue that the struggles for political independence in Africa would not have succeeded without nurturing a sense of community amongst Africans. It led to the formation of the Pan-African Movement, garnering a sense of togetherness amongst Africans worldwide to collaborate and advance a collective anti-colonial agenda. The material and human resources devoted to the cause became possible because of these values. For instance, Frantz Fanon, a Martinican, would not have opted to fight in Algeria’s struggle for independence if he did not see European imperialism as a plight against the common good and humanity of African people. However, what do we see now? Higher education institutions swamped in neo-liberalism. Instead of collaborating to address challenges in society, we are seriously competing for pre-eminence, ignoring the challenges the dearth of collaborative and collectivist values pose to education and development.

9 Social Expectations That African socio-cultural outlooks venerate collectivism and communalism is neither tolerance of indolence over hard work nor mediocrity over brilliance. Perseverance is a virtue imparted at the outset of human development as signified in d me ua nu o to wit “the hand that does not the ÈVe proverb, asi si ke work does not eat”. Thus, without work, one is bound to go hungry. Similarly, which means “it is in the there is a saying that lazy person’s farm that the snake breeds” an illustration of the dangers associated with laziness—it does not reward. A deeper meaning could emphasize the need to connect theory to practice and thought to action because it is not enough to sow but to ensure the conditions for a bountiful harvest. Furthermore, a person who constantly depends on others is inclined to live a contemptible life, that is why the ÈVe proverb which translates as “the porridge comes out of the pitch-dark pot”, encourages us not to shun so-called dirty jobs so long as it helps to eke out a living. Despite the multiplicity in meaning of this proverb, central is the call for hard work; the pot may be outwardly stained but cooks gracefully. The proverb (ÈVe) kalet mex tukpebi e dzime o ak tae wòx n o meaning “a hero does not receive a bullet wound at his back but on his chest” illustrates valour and bravery. Undoubtedly, life presents expected and unexpected challenges that ought to be faced head-on. Excuses cannot be made to renege on or shy away from responsibilities hence the importance of relevant and meaningful education to develop the tenacity to navigate these trajectories. The need for relevant and meaningful education is expressed in this Swahili proverb elimu ni maisha si vitabu meaning “education is in life and not books” (Abubakar, 2011, p. 71). The implication is that learning and education transcend the classroom because the actual issues of life are outside the school, thus the need for a symbiotic relationship between society and

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schooling activities. It is therefore important to see every day experiences as important learning situations and inculcated into the school system to make it culturally relevant. In Swahili muungwana ni vitendo si maneno denotes that “a noble man is known by his actions and not by his words” (Abubakar, 2011, p. 73), iterating the emphasis Africans place on character in African notions of education.

10 Challenges with Collectivism Considering that African proverbs are ancestral sayings, it is safe to state that the Ancestors were not ignorant of the challenges naturally associated with communalism and selflessness and indeed their vision of a meaningful society. So, when we look at the ÈVe proverb koklo be yewo dzrea w m translated as “although cocks fight, they are careful of each other’s eye”. It symbolizes the disagreements that are bound to occur in human relationships; however, it is important not to destroy the rapport, in the interest of the and common good. A similar ÈVe proverb suggests that tre eve n meaning “two calabashes floating on water are bound to touch each other”. The calabash could denote humans while water symbolises the environment and the touch being human relationships, interdependency and interactions. Although these may get touchy, conflicts must be resolved with tact to sustain these connections because ultimately, they interplay towards the greater good of society.

11 Conclusion African proverbs offer a genuine knowledge base and path to mainstream Indigenous African perspectives into Ghana’s higher education process. African proverbs capture the essence of tradition, culture and spirit that guide the endeavours of African societies and those employed in this chapter illustrate Africans’ disapproval of individualism and self-centredness. To Africans, the social nature of humans serves as a fulcrum in the advocacy for the common good as articulated in the ÈVe proverb Mawue w asi gake asibidewo kata mes o which means “the Supreme Being made the hand but the fingers are not equal”. This proverb teaches us to lend a helping hand when required as it is through the aggregation of our unique and diverse skills that meaningful development would be achieved. It further reminds us of human insufficiency and the need to collaborate to maintain balance in society and life. Analysing these proverbs strengthens the cause to incorporate African outlooks and knowledge systems into contemporary higher education to help nurture the cultural identity required for mental emancipation. The Swahili proverb mwacha asili ni mtumwa translating as “he who discards his traditions and culture is a slave” (Abubakar, 2011, p. 74) is a prompt to Africans that sticking to African cultural

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heritage as it occurs within cultural realities lies African liberation. Academics and all stakeholders in higher education must not renege on this quest.

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Chapter 4

Balancing Individualism and Collectivism: A Conversation on Afrocentricity David Addae

and Janet McIntyre-Mills

Abstract The paper is based on email conversations to address the area of concern, namely how to balance individual and collective needs within a pan- Africa and global context in order to redress the historical and current imbalances that result in social and environmental injustice. The paper suggest that African Indigenous ways of knowing (including ways of doing science albeit not in Western-type fashion) can be brought into some relationship with Western models of science by rescuing the enlightenment from itself through critical systemic thinking. Keywords Critical thinking · Risks · Afro-centrism · Sentient beings · Transformation · Living systems

1 Introduction: Power and Culture The closest we can ever get to truth is through testing out ideas and drawing from experience in order to co-create webs of meaning (McIntyre-Mills, 2000). Based on this assumption the starting point for the conversation is a series of questions that emerged from an initial invitation extended by David to Janet and by Janet to David to explore: (a) development related issues; and (b) ways to achieve transformative education, respectively. The questions we explore are: • What is Afro-centrism? • Can this sort of approach restore the imbalances that are a result of past and current injustices? D. Addae (B) Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] D. Addae · J. McIntyre-Mills Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] J. McIntyre-Mills University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_4

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• How can Afro-centric development make a difference? • What is the potential to re-generate systemic thinking and what are the potential pitfalls? “Unfolding values” and “sweeping in” social, cultural, political and economic considerations (to draw on West Churchman’s critical systemic approach (see Churchman, 1967, 1972; McIntyre-Mills, 2021a; Ulrich & Reynolds, 2010) are vital to policy making. Afro-centrism sounds self-explanatory in that it means putting the thinking, theory and experience learned over centuries centre stage in the decision and policy making processes by with and for African people. This makes sense in so many ways as people with lived experience need to make decisions. It makes ethical and democratic sense and in terms of governance it is also in line with the notion all complex policy decisions need to be informed by Ashby’s (1956) law of requisite variety. And yet, policy decisions (as to who gets what, when, why, how and to what effect) have frequently been made for very different reasons, namely to satisfy the needs of the powerful. In the global community we need to understand that “A is better off when B is better off”, to draw on the cyberneticist, Von Foerster (1995). Cosmopolitan notions have been ignored or dismissed as unlikely in international politics, until the arrival of Covid-19 pandemic that has taught us that (a) (b)

unless vaccines are shared we will all suffer and unless climate change is managed, the loss of habitat will result in social, economic and environmental disasters.

During 2020 research for “Transformative Education” conducted by Janet was done mostly in line with some mask to mask engagement while in Cape Town, whilst David continued his research under lock down in Accra. The growth of the COVID19 pandemic in Ghana has impelled a renewed interest among the local people in indigenous immune system boosters due to the belief that indigenous herbs might hold the key to reducing the efficacy of the dreaded virus. Consequently, many herbal immune system boosters including Neem and Sobolo (a cocktail comprising a mixture of many herbal extracts) are being patronized on a massive scale. Also, in January, 2021, the Food and Drugs Authority and the National Medicines Regulatory Agency in Ghana gave the greenlight for herbal medicine, Nibima also known as cryptolepis sanguinolenta to undergo clinical trials. We are hoping that the trials would yield positive results to assess the extent to which herbal medicines can help boost the immune system so that the severity of symptoms is lessened.

2 Balancing Individualism and Collectivism The competitive individual has no place in traditional African philosophy that emphasises communal relationships and respect for nature. Makaulule (2013) explains that

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as custodians for Mupo or living systems the elders need to educate young people to carry forward this sacred knowledge that ensures ecological harmony and balance through mapping relationships and developing a sense of collective responsibility to protect current and future generations of life. The notion of Ubuntu stresses the balance of individualism and collectivism, we are people through others (QuanBaffour, 2019) and the realisation of relationality has prompted a recognition that has been forgotten in more individualistic capitalist societies. Part of this shift has been prompted by the lessons learned during Covid 19 (McIntyre-Mills et al., 2021e) which has taught us that anthropocentric approaches are unsustainable. Mupo and Ubuntu, for example are Southern African concepts that stress cooperation through protecting living systems, extending solidarity with nature and recognising that people are people through connecting with others and the environment (McIntyre-Mills, 2003; Romm, 2017 citing Murove, 1999, 2005; Romm & Lethole, 2021). The notion of extending solidarity to organic and inorganic life is explained by Lethole who is a custodian of a sacred forest and the elephants with whom she shares totemic kinship and for whom she is responsible. This philosophy resonates with by Australian Aboriginal culture. Olive Veverbrandts (cited in McIntyre Mills, 2003) explains that women give totemic names to their children when the foetus moves, the totems could be birds, a lizard or a rock formation). The understanding of relationality is now becoming more commonplace through mainstream media providing a platform for David Attenborough (2020) to make a moving case in the documentary Life on our Planet that rewilding the planet is vital for our shared survival. He cites the UN report that we have not met the deadlines to address climate change and that we are at a cross roads. Both Attenborough (2020) and Goodall (2020) have stressed the importance of learning to love nature so that we are passionate about protecting it. Our relationship for transformation needs to be more than research or categorising, it needs to be about understanding our interdependency as on strand of a living systems. Watts (2021) interviewed Jane Goodall about her vision for the future. Goodall stressed that 75% of diseases are caused by the destruction of animal habitat which creates disease vectors that would not occur if animals were left in their natural habitat and not abused by confining them in factory farms, wet markets or trafficking them. She also stressed that one of the ways in which habitat can be protected is by educating women so that they are able to earn a living and so that they have personal agency. Educated women help to bring about a demographic transition, in other words they have fewer children and they are able to make better decisions about living in more sustainable ways. Paradoxically individualism has been given such free reign in some capitalist democracies that the collective, common good has been forgotten. Rights have replaced responsibilities, instead of being held in balance so that the global commons (on which we all depend) can be maintained. The global commons refers to the living systems. Humanity comprises a single strand along with other diverse species in a shared habitat.

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One of the ways in which the commons can be protected is through post national regionalism driven by an understanding that the big issues of the day, namely mitigating and adapting to climate change and preventing the conditions for pandemics require global interventions. Pan Africanism could usefully be applied to support a version of the Aarhus Convention (1998) which requires that all local residents who are citizens of a post national regional federation be given the right to access environmental (and related) information, a voice and a right to be heard. This governance architecture of supporting voices at the local government level and post-national level through regional parliaments and courts has been described in detail by Ann Florini (2003) in her book on alternative forms of democracy and could be usefully adapted and applied in the African continent. Social and environmental justice in turn needs to be buttressed by supporting an international law of Ecocide (Higgins et al., 2013) that stresses the need to protect the wellbeing of an ecosystem and all the inhabitants of a region. It is couched in deliberately non- anthropocentric language and goes on to stress that organisations and companies need to be held to account. Only by introducing international law could an event such as the spillage of nurdles or oil along beaches be prevented and thus end the contamination of the ocean and the food chain. The Paris Climate Change Agreement (2015) could thus be buttressed in law to ensure that the worst forms of capitalism is transformed so that it no longer relies on (a) fossil fuels and plastics that discount the future in the bid to make short term profits. (b) Extracting profit from developing countries by taking natural resources, adding value to them and then selling the resources back to them (c) Commodifying people and nature and patenting resources.

3 Africa’s Development Challenge Mallence Bart Williams (2020)1 gave TED talk in which she asks the question as to why Africa is impoverished and in need of aid, given that it is so rich in natural resources. Her question gets to the heart of the issue, namely that Africa is rich in natural assets and has enriched companies of the past and present. She stresses that the natural resources of Africa are stripped for the benefit of some nations at the expense of most of Africa. She also asks why the predatory relationship has persisted. Why has the relationship between Africa and the rest of the world been based on the giving of aid with one hand and the taking of profit with another hand? To what extent is the exploitative relationship with Africa unique? The notion that power is linked with the ability to decide what constitutes knowledge has been explained by Foucault and Gordon (1980) in his well-known epithet that power and knowledge are linked. 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPqMxRO8_2U.

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The hard question that needs to be faced is why has this been allowed to happen? Technological differences allowed colonial invaders to take what they wanted. The organization or nation with superior technology has the capability to dominate the less powerful. But the other hard lesson is that the commodification of people, animals and plants has a long history and is widespread across Asia, Africa and Europe (Frankopan, 2016) and slaves were abused to build up the colonial empires. Slaves were treated as commodities and loaded as cargo to maximise profit. Human beings were treated as commodities along with any other sources of profit; human, animal, plant and mineral. The slave trade was, however supported by some African people who also commodified their own people. From Gabon in West Africa to Ghana forms of slavery were practiced and the higher ranking members traded the unfree as commodities along with ivory according to the documentary “Enlsaved” directed by Simcha Jacobovici and hosted by Jackson & Hirsch, 2021). Jackson wished to explore his own history rooted in slavery and highlights that whilst some slaves had more rights in Africa and that in some instances it was regarded as a pragmatic decision linked with survival or removing rivals or those who were unwanted, the goal was to gain at the expense of the slaves. Colonial’s guns and viruses laid waste many indigenous populations and eurocentrism or ethnocentrism under estimated and ignored Indigenous wisdom. The time for decentering and decolonizing is overdue and the pandemic has highlighted that human beings are not top predators. Africa needs to learn from their own history and the mistakes of developed nations, namely that taking profit based on commodifying people and nature is unsustainable and has led to habitat loss. The area of concern for transformative education in Africa (and elsewhere) is water, food, energy insecurity as a result of an: • • • • • • •

Increase in rural -urban imbalance Reliance on carbon-based economy Inadequate governance Lack of democratic representation and accountability Increased gap between rich and poor Increased urbanization and loss of habitat Climate change and pandemics and the need to do more to balance individual and collective need in order to avoid conflict.

For the purposes of a forthcoming volume, transformative education and practice (McIntyre-Mills et al., 2021) is underpinned by the following axiom: human beings can be free and diverse to the extent that we do not undermine living systems in this generation and the next. This is in turn based on recognition of our diversity and interconnectedness and that we are one of many living systems. This realisation of our interconnectivity is only being re-discovered in non-African societies as a result of the wrong philosophical turn taken by over-emphasising categorical thinking in Western science and philosophy. Categorical thinking is used in Western science differs from many other approaches to knowing that desist from this kind of categorisation and recognise the continuity across organic and inorganic life, for example

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and the importance of seeing living systems as continuous with human beings, not separate from them.

4 Displacing Cartesian Thinking and Practice Through More Relational Approaches in Education The continuity of living systems and non categorical thinking characterizes traditional African notions of a sense of kinship with organic and inorganic life that is expressed through totemic kinship (Romm & Lethole, 2021 comm, Makaulule, 2021) and the protection of sacred sites. The recognition of interdependency is expressed by Australian Aboriginal mentors through the notion of earth as mother (Olive Veverbrandts, 2003 and, by Amazon leaders and Nobel Prize nominee Chief Raoni (see Forsetto, 2020) and by American Indians (Harris & Wasilewski‚ 2004), for example. As the displacement of living systems accelerates with climate change, it is time to displace the legacy of categorical thinking initiated by Descartes who stressed the ability of human beings to think and he summed up his basic axiom as “I think therefore I am”. In both “Meditations” and his “Discourse on Methods” the importance of compartmentalizing knowledge and dividing mind from body was deduced from his first principle: ‘I think therefore I am’,2 through a process of faulty induction, science and philosophy he assumed that homo sapiens sapiens, the so-called twice wise (Banathy, 2000) is different from other primates and other sentient beings. But all living systems have a degree of consciousness. Scientists who have studied diverse primates, other animals, plants, fungi and single celled organisms recognise that varying degrees of consciousness span living systems. Fungi on the roots of trees can make decisions to share nutrients in times of need, because the shared habitat is stronger when diverse species survive (Rayner, 2010). Vampire bats reciprocate and share food, which Dawkins sees as pragmatism. When one bat has a successful hunt she regurgitates for an unsuccessful member of her group, knowing that she may need to be helped on another occasion when she is less successful. Basic notions of fairness, empathy and reciprocity are not the preserve of human beings and can sometimes occur without any direct reward (De Waal, 2009) simply because evolution is driven not only by competition, but also by co-operation. The notion that survival is a pragmatic decision based on self-interest and that we are programmed to be selfish is not inevitable (Dawkins, 1996, 2006). Species share resources from fungae to birds and bats as mentioned above. The implications of appreciating the wisdom of birds and their ability to teach their kin and their wider community demonstrates that culture is not the preserve of human beings.

2

Descartes, R. (2017). Meditations on First Philosophy (J. Veitch,Trans.). Toront d from http:// bradleymurray.ca. Descartes, R., 1596–1650. (1986). Discourse on method. Macmillan; Collier Macmillan.

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But even more importantly plants can and do make decisions as Gaglioni et al. have explained and that an appreciation that we are only one strand in a web of species needs to underpin re-generative policy (McIntyre-Mills, 2021b, 2021c, 2021d). The arrogance of speciesism can be added to the long list of racism, sexism, ethnocentrism and eurocentrism which need to be displaced through new and invigorated curricula that explain that human beings are one of many species and that the web of life is interdependent. This could be the first step towards ensuring that future global citizens demand laws and economics to be governed in ways that protect living systems. Back the 1970s Kenneth Boulding used the concept “Space Ship earth” to try to explain to the developed Western world that we are not in competing life boats, we sink or swim together. Tragically we are not only perilously close to conflict between rafts, we have also polluted the very water on which we depend. Human beings (the so called twice wise) because we are capable of thinking about our thinking are actually not uniquely conscious.

5 Education and Culture: A Relational Approach As Chilisa (2017, p. 2) stresses marginalsing African ontology, epistemology and axiology has been pervasive in research by dominant Eurocentric approaches has tended to displace indigenous and local knowledge: The development of research inquiry reveals methodological hegemony with a tendency to perpetuate the dominance of one race over the ‘other’ by building a collection of theories, concepts, methods, techniques, and rules designed to promote only the knowledge that promoted and profited Eurocentrism. (Chilisa, 2012)

Chilisa (2017, p. 820) explains that a relational approach entails: respect and the recognition of all things living andnon-living. Reality is all our connections…

Chilisa (2017, p. 820) continues by explaining: In this system of connections and relationships, each person has a set of knowledge according to their role ….

In moving away from competitive individualistic approaches to learning inspired by neoliberalism a more co-operative approach is needed that fosters partnerships that support community based, intergenerational learning as exemplified by Ecovillages (Shiva, 2020a, 2020b) and adapting this concept in the African context by drawing on one village one/many enterprises (McIntyre-Mills et al., 2021) where earning, learning and growing a future is encouraged using co-operative approaches. This is currently being adapted and tested in Venda (Lethole et al., 2021). Efforts at making education culturally relevant have gained widespread attention in Africa. This is against the backdrop of Molefi Asante’s paradigm of Afrocentricity which positions African people as being in control of their own cultural experience.

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This movement has propelled the popular call for indigenization of the curriculum at all levels of education. This entails a shift in the pedagogical and epistemological grounding, purpose and content of the educational offering to reflect the values of African peoples. McIntyre-Mills et al. (Forthcoming) suggest the need to enable students to “earn, whilst they learn and grow a future together”. We build on a paper “Policy Design for Non-anthropocentric Pathways to Protect Biodiversity and Regenerate the Land” (McIntyre-Mills, 2018) in which a case is made for education to focus on food security and to foster rural education from the primary to the secondary and tertiary level linked with high quality vocational education colleges to support social enterprise. In the education sector of many African countries, there is a profound legacy of colonialism which finds expression through western-inspired curricula. Dei (1998) argues that education in Africa is in a crisis, the causes of which he attributes to ‘a colonial legacy of often misguided educational policies and practices (curriculum, texts, pedagogies) that failed to speak adequately to the variety of human experiences or to the diverse histories and ideas that have shaped, and continue to shape, human growth and social development’ (p. 511). Some scholars from the West have often gloated at the achievements of Western science in human history. In Stanley Crouch’s “Beyond the Afrocentric Con” there is a glorification of Western thinking which has tended to univeralise western views as benchmarks or norms that bear little relevance to local conditions or local wisdom that responds to local contexts. However, given the problems, experiences and realities of Africa, Western philosophies and knowledges fail to prepare the African student to meaningfully adapt to and respond to problems in their unique indigenous settings. For instance in a 2017 TED lecture,3 Chika Ezeanya-Esiobu shared a conversation she had with her boss4 regarding a failed large-scale World Bank Irrigation Project in rural Niger where it was observed that the imported irrigation technology from the West did not function in a sustainable manner. Instead they could have learned from the experience of a neighbouing irrigation project in another rural community in the same country that employed a particular traditional irrigation method (known as Tassa) that was hugely successful. This example points to the need to learn from local experience and not to assume that Western knowledge and science always has a better solution to the ones found locally in Africa. This is typical in many African countries, where development experts are ‘imported’ from the West to analyse a development problem and to offer a solution based on scientific method (Briggs & Sharp, 2004). It also exposes the unfortunate ‘repudiation of Africa’s originality, and a belittling of the continent’s authentic experiences, which ipso facto, meant that the Africans’ environment, lived experiences, way of life, their cultural values, belief systems, and educational structure and curriculum (among others) were considered backward, unscientific, and barbaric’ (Ezeanya-Esiobu, 2019, p. 1), because African conceptualisations are more holistic and desist from converting reality into variables. 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28sa2zGgmwE. Chika Ezeanye-Esiobu indicated that the conversation with her boss occurred when she was consulting for the World Bank Africa Region.

4

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Woodman and Bradford (1987) observes that the difficulty of designing viable development strategies in Africa derives from the fact that the region’s modern development thinking is not in tandem with the principles of the indigenous communities over which the new nation states have imposed their rule (Ezeanya-Esiobu, p. 2). Essentially, there is a disconnection between formal education and the realities many African peoples. Post-colonial formal education on the continent perpetuates the westernization of the African. According to Dei (1998) this Eurocentric education continues to distort, misappropriate and misinterpret African human conditions and reality. Development is not only a political process; and politically and economically contested area, but is also viewed as a social and cultural process (Clammer, 2005). Not surprisingly, the ‘great development failures’ on the continent have also brought the whole project of growth, poverty alleviation, and the spread of universally higher standards of social justice and democratisation into question (Clammer, 2005, p. 101). These realities have informed a paradigm shift in education for Africa’s development. The new discourse on education for sustainable development is situated within the Afrocentric paradigm and analyses efforts at making education for development of Africa culturally relevant. Afrocentricism recognizes the need to look at Africa’s cultures and history from their own centers or locations. It is a proposition to validate, regenerate, create, and perpetuate African life and living-whole and unhindered, informed by African perspective or world outlook. (Bekerie, 1994, p. 131)

This African perspective is guided by an ethos which locates Africans in a communal space in the service of common goals, interests, values and practices. However, African knowledge is diverse even though its commonality is tied to a projection of indigenous values, customs, traditions and practices of African peoples removed from the hegemony of Western knowledge. This diversity is largely because Africa is a collective and plural term encompassing diverse cultures and experiences, and histories (Bekerie, 1994). Locating African knowledge in the African context relates to what we refer to as ‘situatedness of knowledge’. Within the idea of situated knowledge is the belief that African cultures shape indigenous knowledges. African indigenous knowledge is not a common ‘commodity’, instead it is a product of varied cultural and historical experiences. Therefore, what constitutes knowledge is not merely subjective, but inter-subjective because its value depends on its perceived usefulness to the lives of the particular group of people. Culture is a response to the environment and is therefore dependent upon its historical ‘place’—the environment (natural setting) within which it occurs. In the African sense, culture is relational—situates the person as nodes within a network of forces (often over-crudely referred to by commentators as ‘the group’) and never as atomistic individuals (Clammer, p. 103) and collectivist—a tendency within a culture toward gregariousness and group orientation (Hofstede, 1980) as opposed to individualism—placing the individual at the centre stage with less emphasis on the group—which is a feature of western cultures.

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This relates to the independence versus interdependence matrix often depicted in the individualist—collectivist debate. Viewing culture within a collectivist frame assumes that through social interactions with ‘others’, individuals co-create meanings, values, beliefs and lived experiences. In traditional African communities, knowledge is mutually created and is shared among succeeding generations through myths, stories, songs, and ceremonies such as festivals. The family constitutes a microcosm of the society serving as the first and most enduring agent of socialisation offering new members an identity and their first encounter with the basic tenets of their culture. Learning is a lifelong endeavour to adapt to the society. All aspects of life—identity, religion, economy, society—are interconnected in the African worldview and indigenous education should serve the purpose of making such connections more visible. Education in Africa should seek to promote the transmission of cultural values relevant to the African people. Given the global trends in development, questions arise as follows: what is the relevance of African indigenous knowledge and science in meeting the demands of contemporary development challenges? How can we incorporate indigenous cultural values, practices, traditions, beliefs and realities into mainstream education curricula in Africa? What are the nuances of implementing an African indigenous education? To answer these questions, we advocate for an Afrocentric education which recognises the value of African cultural imperatives. Shockley and Cleveland (2011) opine that it is only through this form of education that Africans can overcome the Western-inspired miseducation on the continent.

6 A Case for Culturally Relevant Education in Africa Chilisa (2017, p. 818) stresses the need to be Afrocentric as: Asking for the people’s environmental knowledge, such as stories and songs that connect them to their place, identity, ways of knowing, and their practices…

It also provides a vital basis for a relational approach and opens a route to understanding a relational ontology of the world based on an understanding of multiple relationships. Building respectfully on local knowledge is the basis of transformative research (Chilisa & Mertens, 2021) and pedagogy (Freire, 1970). One of the first and most enduring encounters of the African child with the English language—which happens to be the official language of many African countries— is the grasping of the alphabets. Most notably the letter ‘a’ is used to denote an ‘apple’—a fruit which bears no realistic significance in the formative years of the ordinary African child. In many sub-Saharan African countries, an apple is not a common fruit in the diet of many people, and doesn’t constitute a reality for many people. This is just one of the many instances of the mounting evidence of the mismatch between current models of education and the prevailing realities of the African student. It is important to note that knowledge can only be conceived as meaningful if it helps students to make sense of their lived experiences. However, African education in its present state is struggling to free itself from a colonial past

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and the stronghold of contemporary external dictates (Dei, 1998). As long as the educational frameworks of various African countries remain fixated on and aligned with the ideals of Western culture, African indigenous knowledges will continue to suffer neglect and marginalisation (e.g. Botha, 2010). Therefore, to achieve the desired emancipation of African education from the clutches of Western hegemony, we argue that a counter-hegemonic education that is culturally relevant to the African society has the potential of developing people who can solve the society’s pressing challenges and in the words of Iseke-Barnes and Danard (2007) ‘resist becoming commodities of market value or anthropological classifications …’ (p. 8). This epistemological ‘freedom’ will engender an African cultural autonomy leading to a focused and meaningful education for the continent’s advancement. As pointed out by Goduka (2000), by advocating for a culturally relevant education, we are not pushing for a romanticised return to the traditional ways of life prior to colonisation; instead we conceive it as a springboard to a contextually, culturally and spiritually relevant education connected to the realities of the African people (Botha, 2010). Culturally relevant education situates learning within past and on-going lived experiences of the students recognising that their cosmology and epistemology are tied to the place in which they live. It draws on the cultural backgrounds and knowledge of students as assets in the educational experiences of students (Gay, 2010). Ladson-Billings (1994) defines culturally relevant education as one “that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (pp. 16–17). This fosters students’ cultural competency—developing students’ capacities to appreciate and adapt to the cultural beliefs and practices of their societies while acquiring access to the wider culture, where they are likely to have a chance of improving their socio-economic status and making informed decisions about the lives they wish to lead (Aronson & Laughter, 2016). In a CRE classroom, the teacher is described by Aronson and Laughter as one who: • uses constructivist methods to develop bridges connecting students’ cultural references to academic skills and concepts while also building on the knowledges and cultural assets students bring with them into the classroom; • engages students in critical reflection about their own lives and societies and using inclusive curricula and activities to support analysis of all the cultures represented; • facilitates students’ cultural competence and construct a classroom learning environment in which students both learn about their own and others’ cultures and develop pride in their own and others’ cultures; and explicitly unmasks and unmakes oppressive systems through the critique of discourses of power, extending their work beyond the classroom in active pursuit of social justice for all members of society (2016, p. 167). While the adoption of culturally relevant education holds great promise for Africanising education, the logical question that needs to be addressed at this moment is: should African education renounce the universalism of knowledge or what we refer to as ‘global knowledge’? In an editorial for special issue on Indigenous Knowledges and

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Education in Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, Aikman and King (2012) make an important point that addresses this very contestation. According to Aikman and King claiming and reclaiming a space for indigenous knowledges in education systems, institutions and practices does not mean a rejection of global modernity. It has to be acknowledged however that, the dynamism of indigenous knowledges lie in their ability to ‘develop vibrant relationships and accommodations with dominant knowledges…’ (Aikman & King, p. 675). Contemporary discourses of culturally relevant education centre the issue of relevancy of educational content in the society’s development efforts. Our model of culturally relevant education is Afrocentric in nature and practice. Being Afrocentric in nature entails an education that reflects the cultural imperatives of the society it serves. As an Afrocentric practice, culturally relevant education makes ‘use of local knowledge and expertise and the conduct of communicative and discursive practices that centre on the African experience and human condition’ (Dei, 1998, p. 523). It is a framework used by educators wishing to promote equity and attempt meaningful change in the classroom (Aronson & Laughter, 2016). Also, in a classroom where culturally relevant education is being practiced, teachers re-evaluate themselves and their students against the cultural identities and competences that they want to develop the latter.

7 Afrocentricity as a Discourse for Education and Development There appears to be a realisation among researchers of the decline of Euro-American philosophies and science in development practice in Africa largely due to the growing body of evidence of failures in addressing the unique challenges of African development (e.g. Agrawal, 1995; Escobar, 1995; Peet & Watts, 1993). Following this realisation, Dei (1998) has noted that it is unfair if not immoral for so-called development experts to continue to articulate a development agenda in terms relevant to industrial capital, the world economy, and the associated globalization processes, at the same time that the daily needs of local peoples are not being met. In fact any meaningful development must align with the needs of the local people; it should not be as though the local people are mere ‘passives’ in the development process and are just fortunate beneficiaries. In the wake of this renewed thought, there is growing interest among development practitioners and researchers regarding the inclusion of the indigenous knowledges of groups at whom development projects are aimed, rather than assuming and relying on the universal applicability and superiority of scientific knowledge (Briggs & Sharp, 2004, p. 661). This fledgling paradigm offers a catalyst for engendering local people’s sense of ownership over the development process. In the preceding section, the argument has been made that given Africa’s history and challenges, a culturally relevant education

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deeply rooted in African ideals is pertinent to ensuring the growth and stability that the continent yearns for. Afrocentricity as noted by Ama Mazama (2001) contends that the main problem of African people is the usually unconscious adoption of the Western worldview and perspective and their attendant conceptual frameworks. The long history of colonisation and white imperialism is partly to blame for Africa’s loss of identity and the apparent xenocentrist tendencies characteristic of contemporary African peoples. Vestiges of colonial legacy continue to reverberate in many spheres of African life. However, Afrocentricity holds the key to revitalising the seemingly forgotten African knowledge systems in forging a new development agenda for Africa. Afrocentricity ‘recognizes the need to look at Africa’s cultures and history from their own centres or locations. It is a proposition to validate, regenerate, create, and perpetuate African life and living – whole and unhindered, informed by African perspective or world outlook’ (Bekerie, 1994, p. 131). African people are responsible for their histories because they are active in creating their own experiences. According to Asante (1991, p. 172) Afrocentricity … centers on placing people of African origin in control of their lives and attitudes about the world. This means that we examine every aspect of the dislocation of African people; culture, economics, psychology, health and religion.

Its aim is to facilitate a recapturing of African consciousness—a consciousness that has been derailed by the conscious and unconscious attempts by Africans to mirror Euro-American worldviews and voice. Mazama notes that to be African does not necessarily correspond to being Afrocentric; instead, Afrocentrism places Africa at the centre of African people’s world while stressing all people’s entitlement to practice and celebrate their own culture as long as it does not interfere with the collective wellbeing (p. 389). Within this context, education for the advancement of Africa must be situated within an African-centred ideology which problematizes development from the point of view of the African. Through a collectivist approach, indigenous solutions are identified and implemented. Indigenous people have the capacity to ‘invent’ solutions to their own problems and have appropriate institutions to ensure their effective implementation. This is not to say that any African-centred approach can remedy the problems of Africans. Far from that, in fact, indigenous knowledge, practices need to be scrutinized for their appropriateness just as any other technology. In addition to scientific proof, local evidence and the sociocultural background in which the practices are embedded also need consideration in the process of validation and evaluation. (World Bank, 1998, p. 6)

African societies have well-developed mechanisms for legitimizing indigenous knowledge and practices. Through several centuries of practice, testing and verification, indigenous knowledges are held true in so far as it meets the needs of the local people. However, the view that indigenous knowledge should serve a complementary and not as competitor to global knowledge systems in the implementation of development projects’ (World Bank, 1998, p. 8) is an unfortunate reminder of

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the disguised dominance of Western knowledge in development practice. Afrocentricity is not anti-European or anti-American; its interest lies in reclaiming African knowledge and practices as legitimate in local life. Central to the theory is the uncompromising principle of rejecting the notions and practices of hegemonic or alleged universal tendencies and practices of a given paradigm because hegemonic centrism regardless its source is unacceptable (Bekerie, p. 137). This is because no one theory can explain all social phenomena. People are diverse in terms of their backgrounds and experiences which justifies the idea that a single universal approach may be limited in addressing their different needs. For African peoples, an Afrocentric development education is an attempt to provide a sense of agency, empowerment, and entitlement to the local people in order to positively change their socio-economic circumstances (Shockley & Frederick, 2010). A practical example is Wangari Maathai’s Green Belt Movement which championed the planting of over 30 million trees in 30 years in Eastern, Central, and other parts of Africa. She received the coveted Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 in recognition of her role in promoting environmental sustainability. Using indigenous approaches, she was able to work with many poor rural women in different parts of Africa and developing countries to plant rare native tree species. Her initiative empowered many women by giving them jobs and income. The work of the Green Belt Movement demonstrates the undeniable interdependence between people and their environment—the environment is our source of life and correspondingly the environment depends on us for its sustenance. Also, in a forthcoming volume, Addae and McIntyre-Mills (Forthcoming) discuss the importance of culture in protecting patches of forests in a rural community in Ghana. It shows how the spirituality of the people in the community is contributing to sustainable development by ensuring the protection of the forests which otherwise would have been destroyed by human activities. This type of development is rooted in the peoples’ sense of moral and spiritual values, and the connections between the social and natural worlds (Dei, 1998).

8 Mainstreaming Culturally Relevant Education in Africa Current educational offerings in Africa have largely failed to address the developmental challenges faced by the peoples. Contemporary education in Africa is still riddled with Western knowledge imports while little has been done to transform education frameworks on the continent. Mawere (2015) argues that particularly sub-Saharan Africa, while the so-called indigenous communities have always found value in their own local forms of knowledge, the colonialists viewed indigenous knowledge as unscientific, illogical, antidevelopment, and/or ungodly. However, over the past three decades, there is a burgeoning interest in the value of local knowledge in the development agenda of African countries. As Durie (2005, p. 304) writes:

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While it is often valued because of its traditional qualities, the perception of indigenous knowledge and culture as applicable only to the distant past ignores the thrust for development that is part of the indigenous journey. Arising from the creative potential of indigenous knowledge is the prospect that it can be applied to modern times in parallel with other knowledge systems.

To achieve effective development in Africa, we have argued that education that reflects the cultural heritage of the indigenous people should be incorporated into the educational systems of African countries. An education that develops the cultural competencies of students and paves the way for their realities to be integrated into their learning experiences should be implemented at all levels. To achieve this it is necessary to transform the educational system to accommodate the new focus and trajectory. This means that attempts should be made to reform the curriculum. Curriculum reform would entail inter alia, identifying and leveraging indigenous knowledges and expertise with a focus on relevance to the educational aspirations of the society and the students. As Dei (1998) notes, the reform of African education to serve local needs must begin with students, teachers, parents, local communities and other educational practitioners. These stakeholders serve as custodians of indigenous knowledge and can contribute to identifying relevant scope of content to enhance students meaning making processes. Another aspect of the proposed educational reform is in the area of pedagogical strategies. Teaching and learning should be relevant to the culture of the students. This requires educators to teach in culturally relevant ways through the use of knowledge about the social, cultural, and language backgrounds of their students (Banks, 2001, p. 233). Culturally relevant pedagogy rests on three criteria or propositions: (a) students must experience academic success; (b) students must develop and/or maintain cultural competence; and (c) students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the current status quo of the social order (LadsonBillings, 1994, p. 160). To meet these criteria, we argue that schools should not only teach African languages, but they should become the instructional and communicative languages in the classroom. We agree with Woolman (2001) that ‘the cultivation of oral and written fluency in local African languages is important in building selfesteem, preserving culture, and advancing the literary output and identity of African Peoples’ (p. 41). The importance of African-language development is further underscored by the historical reality that early nation-building in Europe was closely linked to the cultivation of vernacular languages and literature (Woolman, 2001). Indeed in some African countries, local languages are taught in schools as subjects. A case in point is that of Ghanaian Basic Education schools where selected local languages are taught to children in the first five years of their education after which they are gradually exposed to the English language. In upper primary and beyond, English becomes the only medium of instruction. It is our considered opinion that despite this notable effort of using a bilingual methodology to bridge the gap in English literacy, it ultimately impedes learners’ progress since it can be argued that learners learn best when the medium of instruction is a language familiar to them. Also important in the discourse of language and education is the notion that without language there is

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no memory of culture and no data storage system for knowledge (Aikman & King, 2012). Teachers should also rethink their classroom practices and re-evaluate their beliefs about their students. Teachers’ beliefs and views of themselves and their students relative to their places and positions within society influence their identity as well as their instruction (Gonzalez, 2009 in Leonard et al., 2009, p. 4). For them to succeed in making their pedagogy culturally relevant, teachers need to reflect on their teaching, beliefs and identity and to understand the nuances of incorporating cultural imperatives into the learning experiences of students. The relationship between teacher and student should be that of mutual respect and co-equality in the classroom. Schiele (1994) adds that ‘this would require both the teacher and the student to assume a more humble and affable posture when relating to one another. The teacher would assume a non elitist posture and would view students as people who are eager to learn’ (p. 155). Students must be made to feel at ‘home’ and be encouraged to participate fully in the teaching and learning encounter. A way forward is to integrate practical learning from experience within community contexts and to ensure that the classroom does not separate the student from the community and the environment. Rural and regional locations for primary, secondary and tertiary studies could help to re-generate education (McIntyre-Mills, 2018).

9 Concluding Remarks Re-integrating education requires re-balancing mind and body, human and environment, respecting diversity in terms of age, gender, culture, race, nationality, abilities and talents. It also requires human beings to understand their relationship with other species. A non-anthropocentric approach to ethics is a starting point based on the cosmopolitan assumption that “A is better when B is better off” (to draw on Von Foerster, 1995) with the added caveat that all policy decisions need to bear in mind the needs of living systems in this generation and the next. Curriculum development based on respect for diversity in Africa and globally is overdue, but Afrocentrism like ethnocentrism, nationalism or speciesism and many other isms) needs to be mindful that when drawing the line of exclusion or inclusion, decision makers need to think carefully about the consequences of policy decisions in the short, medium and long term, stewardship of the rich African heritage could be protected for current and future generations of life.

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Chapter 5

The Centrality of Glocalisation in Sustaining Development Education in Ghana and Nigeria Samuel Amponsah

and Kola Babarinde

Abstract Since the attainment of independence from their colonial masters in 1957 and 1960, the Ghanaian and Nigerian education systems have undergone several reforms to conform to the times. Incidentally, all the reforms seem to drive the values of education towards Western philosophies. Indigenous knowledge systems, content and African forms of delivery have eluded the two countries’ educational systems. To bring back authentic African content into development education, this paper advocates for the incorporation of local content and delivery styles to ensure learners carry the ‘knowledge of their fathers’ into the future and immortalise such knowledge for posterity. In pushing this agenda, we did a content analysis of the various educational reforms in Ghana and Nigeria. Based on what exists in the literature, we theorized that in respect of SDG 4 and the bid to sustain education as a contribution to development education, glocalisation should be the prime focus. Consequently, we noted that policy directives, decolonization of the various curricula used in education and the implementation of the recommendations from earlier studies and declarations are imperatives to this call. Keywords Adult education · Educational system · Decolonization · Development education · Glocalisation · Sustainable development

1 Introduction The subjugation of Afrocentric education to that of the Global North is deeply rooted in the historical perspectives of the discipline. Historically, it is believed that nonconformist Christians such as John Wycliffe and Lollards used adult education as a vehicle for people to access the Bible in the United Kingdom. Arko-Achemfour S. Amponsah (B) Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] K. Babarinde Department of Early Childhood and Educational Foundations, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_5

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et al. (2019) are of the view that such initiatives led to the eventual formation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge in 1699, which in turn helped the Church of England’s efforts to formally help adults learn how to read. In the United States, adult education gained prominence when the Office of education established an Adult Education Section in the 1950s which later served as a hub of information for the citizenry. These efforts were later transferred to Africa with the entrance of colonialism, missionaries and western merchants. Whereas the historical perspectives of education are captured from the viewpoints of indigenes within their context, the story is different in Africa as the concept has been ‘dressed’ to look as though it was imported to Africa. This comes with little surprise as the African continent is believed to have tasted education through Christian missionaries who encouraged people to read the bible (Quan-Baffour, 2018). This was followed by colonial masters and European merchants whose interests were initially in the schooling of their children and selected locals to be ‘enlightened enough’ to be able to engage in trade with them (Arko-Achemfour, 2018; Quan-Baffour, 2018). Furthermore, Du Bois (2005) highlighted that, through the concept of double consciousness, some non-African theorists told the African story “always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of the world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (p. 45). However, Shore (2001) warns that such pity may easily serve as the conduit for triggering a form of quiet dominance. The situation could not get any worse when Johnson-Bailey (2002) asserted that Eurocentric approaches have been used to deliver education content over time. He further argued that these approaches are employed in non-European contexts which to a large extent overshadows the traditionally known or even acceptable approaches of the people. Shore’s warning makes so much sense as many Africans have substituted their rich culture for Eurocentric ones which might have contributed to the moral decadence in African societies in recent years. Similarly, Avoseh (2012) maintains that the historical perspectives of African adult education cannot be entirely true. His argument is corroborated by Brookfield’s (2017) contention that adult education has been racialized to the extent that its dominant conceptualisations and mechanisms for knowledge production and dissemination are grounded in one group’s experience and ideologies. This is also supported by Shore’s (2001) statement that “education scholarship positions Whiteness unquestioningly as the invisible norm, a norm that appears to have no tangible effects on pedagogy” (p. 43). To this end, education in Africa should aim at interfacing authentic African knowledge with global trends (glocalization) so Africans will be fully aware of challenges and issues around them and contribute to their local and global development efforts. Any attempt to achieve the above is hinged on a call by Avoseh (2012) for Africans to revisit the knowledge of their ancestors who he describes as theoretical frameworks of education whose wisdom was passed to generations orally. Likewise, QuanBaffour (2011) refers to the importance of the education provided by the African ancestors as the wisdom of our fathers. For instance, the African approach to socializing its youth through kinship systems, stories, songs and folklore were ways of

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instilling discipline, hard work, dignity for the human race, leadership, cooperative problem-solving and preservation of nature among its people. Though these virtues and philosophies were contained in orality (Avoseh, 2012; Quan-Baffour, 2011), they contributed to Africa’s education and its development before the advent of the Eurocentric approaches. Moreover, SDG 4 advocates inter alia for lifelong learning. Target 4.7 specifically advocates for global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development. This means recourse to indigenous knowledge becomes indispensable if African education is to make any meaningful contributions through education to sustain its development. However, this has eluded the formal education system in Africa since it handed its destiny into the hands of imperialists centuries ago. The abolishing of imperialism did not erase the footprints of their content, pedagogies, subtle cultures and orientations from the education of their formal colonies. There are more fundamental epistemological issues calling for interrogation within the larger scope of this paper which we might not be able to fully examine beyond raising preliminary questions. For example, the whole concept of Sustainable Development (SD) is taken for granted with all its Eurocentric assumptions. Is development in general and sustainable development in particular considered from the Afrocentric perspective even though it is meant to address African problems? Is SD considered as a bottom-up or top-down policy intervention? African social organisations tend to emphasize collectivism rather than individualism and progress is assessed as a collective achievement and value-laden concept such as captured in the “Ubuntu” Philosophy in East and Southern Africa and “Omoluwabi” among the “Yoruba” of Southwest Nigeria. While we note that these address larger epistemological and axiological issues, sensitivity to them are more likely to affect the possibility and extent of success of policy intervention premised upon them. From the foregoing, local knowledge systems and philosophies of education can be useful tools for Africa’s development, particularly in the Ghanaian and Nigerian contexts. However, these indigenous knowledge systems have been influenced significantly by Eurocentric perspectives, approaches and practices. Such influences have successfully obscured the authentic forms of Afrocentric education in Africa. Brookfield (2017) therefore advocates for democratic learning environments where learners voluntarily share their experiences in a celebratory manner instead of the structured pedagogical regimes inherent in Western epistemologies. Also, Outlaw (1996) called for a philosophy that serves the interest of people and helps them achieve a critical understanding of their situation. Consequently, through this study, we advocate for authentic forms and approaches of education to be deployed in the two countries while theorizing how such efforts would be instrumental in sustaining development education.

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2 Educational Reforms in Ghana and Nigeria 2.1 Highlights from Ghana Ghana after gaining independence from colonial rule has made attempts to establish a model of education that decolonizes its citizenry and make them a productive workforce. This has culminated in three major educational reforms dating back to the immediate post-colonial era. Thus, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, saw education as the vehicle for transforming the human resource of the nation (Sefa Dei & Opini, 2007) into a formidable force for his national transformation agenda. This ideology culminated in the introduction of the Education Act (1961) which established a free universal and compulsory education (Adu-Gyamfi et al., 2016). Key tenets of the education act were to increase attendance at the elementary school level and train teachers to cater for the growing number of school children. However, Nkrumah’s era was short-lived as he was overthrown through a military coup d’etat in 1966 (MacBeath, 2010). The overthrow of Nkrumah spelt doom for Ghana’s education system as a series of military coups d’etat weakened the education system for lack of consistency and direction. However, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope when almost 20 years later, the Provisional National Defense Council (PNDC) military government created the Evans Anfom Education Review Committee to look into the country’s education system. The work of the committee resulted in the promulgation of the 1987 Education Act which established the Whole School Development Programme (WSD) to address the educational issues of the country (Adu-Gyamfi et al., 2016). Key among the issues the Act sought to address was a drive towards literacy as a means of catering for school dropouts and adult learners. This was a marked difference between the new and old Acts as the needs of adult learners were brought to the fore. Sefa Dei and Opini (2007) highlight that the 1987 Act reduced the timeframe for schooling in Ghana from 17 to 12 years. There is also an indication that the Act sought to make education accessible to children across diverse geo-socio-economic backgrounds in Ghana. Despite the strengths of the Act, it was noted to have contained remnants of the colonial system of education such as a rigid curriculum with limited or no interaction in the classroom (Sefa Dei & Opini, 2007). The final education reform was launched in 2007. Preceding the launch was the establishment of a presidential committee on education led by Professor Josephus Anamuah-Mensah which introduced some reforms to the education system (AduGyamfi et al., 2016; MacBeath, 2010). The reforms were premised mainly on the development of human capital for the agenda of industrialization, improvements in science education and the promotion of cultural identity through indigenous knowledge. To that end, the 2007 reforms revised the curriculum for pre-tertiary education and increased the duration of secondary school, which leans to the American nomenclature and thus, became Senior High School to four (4) years. An important addition to the pre-tertiary level educational system was the incorporation of a two (2) year Kindergarten programme. The Universal Basic Education (that is, first cycle

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education), therefore, became 11 years. Another significant change that characterized the reform was modernizing of the courses, especially for technical and vocational institutions to make them more relevant for the job market. Apart from the three reforms Ghana’s education system has witnessed, there have been some major changes along the way. Notably, in 1996 the government in power introduced the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (fCUBE) to address the quality of and widen access to education at the basic level (Nudzor, 2014). Akyeampong (2004) notes that the objectives of the fCUBE were to improve quality in teaching and learning, management efficiency, and increase access and participation in education. Incidentally, the objectives of fCUBE were not different from the goals of the 1987 WSD programme (MacBeath, 2010). Lastly, the main change in Ghana’s education landscape since 2008 has been the introduction of a new elementary curriculum from the 2019 academic year aimed at using child-centred approaches to cultivate essential twenty-first century skills like critical thinking and creativity. Though the reforms and changes might have brought some improvements in the education sector it is not clear it can put beneficiaries of the education system at par with their counterparts elsewhere. The World Bank in the 2018 Human Capital Index (HCI) report on Ghana revealed that in 18 years, around 56% of Ghana’s human capital would go waste due to the poor quality of education in the country (The World Bank, 2018). To overturn this unfortunate situation, Ghana’s education system must be reformed to adequately prepare students to be proactive, critical thinkers, and problem-solvers capable of using authentic local knowledge to act for societal transformation and advancement and establish themselves as global citizens based on their adaptability and usefulness to the ever-changing times.

2.2 Highlights from Nigeria There exist great similarities in the evolution and experience of Ghana and Nigeria who are both giants of West Africa. Both countries share a region, socio-cultural belief and practices; including exposure to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, western colonialism and education. Ghana got her political independence in 1957 and Nigeria in 1960. The first Nigerian Education Ordinance was enacted in 1887. In 1920, the PhelpsStoke Commission was set up to review the need for native education instead of Western education. Between 1943 and 1945, the Elliot Commission on Higher Education in West Africa was inaugurated to “report on the organisation and facilities of the existing centres of higher education in British West Africa, and to make recommendations regarding future development in that area” Taiwo (1980, p. 75). Both Ghana and Nigeria were thus equally affected by this colonial ordinance. In 1959/1960, the Ashby Commission was set up on the eve of Nigeria’s independence, an event that gave high expectations to the people. The Panel was to conduct an investigation into Nigeria’s needs in the field of post-secondary school certificate

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and higher education over the next twenty years. There were other efforts especially at the regional levels, to intervene and influence the development of education in the region. For example, the 1961–1962 Oldman Commission on Primary Education in Northern Nigeria and the 1961 Banjo Commission in Western Region were set up to, review the existing structure and the working of pre-primary and secondary (grammar and modern) school system in the region, the adequacy of the teacher training programme; and the interrelationship between primary education and the various types of secondary education including pre-university education (Taiwo ibid).

In 1963, the government of the Western Region of Nigeria set up the Ajayi Commission to inquire into an increase in fees charged by private grammar schools and teacher training colleges; from 1958–1962 the Dike Commission was set up to review the educational system covering primary, secondary, and technical colleges in the Eastern Region; in 1968, the Asabia Commission was empanelled by the Federal Government to look into the grading and duty post in voluntary agency and educational institutions. These uncoordinated and sectional educational and curriculum development in Nigeria continued until the conflict among the ruling elite led Nigeria into a needless and costly thirty months civil war (1967–1970). This war was disastrous, wasted a huge amount of resources in human and financial terms and inflicted lasting damage on the psyche of the nation. This civil war eventually woke the Nigerian ruling class up to the necessity to build one united Nigerian nation. The challenge to build a united nation was to lead to the adoption of education as the most viable choice for this developmental emergency. This led to a series of education committees and the eventual emergence of the National Policy on Education in 1976, a document that was anchored on the belief that education was, “the instrument par excellence for achieving national development” (Lawal, 2013, p. 29). Development and challenges in the political sphere always usually emerge as prospects and challenges in educational development. And so, when the military junta intervened in the politics by overthrowing the civilian administrations that were rightly accused of misrule and mis-governance, the consequences of such changes necessarily echoed in the development of education. The effects were a mixed bag of changes characterised by sporadic growth, development and reversals. The military exhibited the same ethos of command structure and unitarism in the polity. Education policy became more centralized and a commitment to instilling discipline led to such policies as ‘War Against Indiscipline’ and the introduction of military men to secondary schools across the country. Education during the first republic attracted a lot of attention, commitment and funding. This was to continue during the second republic. The military regime affected educational development significantly. One major effect was the adoption of the Bretton Woods sponsored Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) from 1985 to 1993 under the regime of self-styled military President, General Ibrahim Babangida. The major focus of the economic reform programme was the devaluation of the currency, privatization of public enterprises and withdrawal of subsidy from social services including education. As a consequence, funding for education received less attention and this precipitated decline

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in the quality of public education. While a broader effect of this Neo-liberal policy on the development of Nigeria may be left to political economists, it may suffice to assert that the consequence has been telling for the growth and development of education in Nigeria. Public funding declined and mismanagement and corruption of the investment in education complicated the matter. The first institution of higher learning Yaba Higher College was established in 1932 before the Northern and Southern Protectorates were amalgamated under Lord Lugard in 1914. Earlier, according to (Taiwo op cit.), post-secondary education in the form of vocational and sub-professional courses was given in agriculture at the central agricultural research station, Moor Plantation, Ibadan, and at Samaru near Zaria, in veterinary science at Vom near Jos, and engineering in Lagos by the Nigerian Railway Company and the Government technical departments (Taiwo, op cit., p. 77). Yaba Higher College courses were mainly in the sciences with some elements of humanities and religion. By 1939, graduates of Yaba Higher College were beginning to make an impact in public works, hospitals, agricultural stations and government secondary schools. The fortune of the college was negatively affected by the second world war of 1939– 1945 through the reduction of lecturers due to military call up and drastic reduction of funds. Dr. K. Mellanby arrived in Nigeria in July 1947 and took over the college as the nucleus of the new University College of which he was later appointed Principal. The 104 students of Yaba Higher College moved to Ibadan during the Christmas to form the foundation students of University College, Ibadan, and on 2 February 1948, University College, Ibadan, opened its temporary site in Ibadan with Dr. K. Mellanby as Principal. Above was the systematic evolution of higher education in Nigeria in the period before the attainment of independence. The expectation of the people was a clear association of these evolving educational systems for the promotion of individual and national development. When Nigeria gained her independence in 1960, the University College of Ibadan became a full-fledged university. University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was later established in 1960 followed by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, University of Lagos and the University of Ife (established by the Government of Western Region) took off in 1962. By 1977–1978, seven new universities in Jos, Calabar, Maiduguri, Kano, Ilorin, Port Harcourt and Sokoto commenced operation with a total of 7449 students (Taiwo, op cit.). There was high hope on these higher education institutions to provide muchneeded manpower for the public and emerging private sector and the citizens were convinced that the development of the region was going to be championed and promoted by the institutions and their products. However, there started to emerge a critical appraisal of this class of the Nigerian elite. For example, Castle 1972 in Babarinde (1991, p. 125) offers a historical insight. According to him, In the years between 1930 and 1940, colonised Africa underwent little fundamental change. The colonial officer administered his province, the European trader exploited its resources, the European missionary preached his Gospel and with some government assistance quietly proceeded with teaching his converts in schools and colleges which were to become the spear-point of educational advance.

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This historical fact distorted the direction of development in this region and for better or for worse imposed the western paradigm of development on the region. The citizens became disillusioned with the post-colonial political and economic systems. There existed overdependence on the colonial master and the adoption of euro-western standards and definition of development. Indigenous intellectuals, political leaders and writers have criticised the focus, content, method and products of western education as bookish, lacking in moral content and commitment and mainly succeeded in making white men and women in black skin! Writers like Moumouni, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria were all united on the point that Africa deserved an educational system that is relevant to the needs of Africa, in tandem with her history and environment, that can truly liberate the minds of its recipient and capable of true development for Africa. This offers perhaps the earliest impetus for the idea of glocalisation even before the concept was officially coined. What sort of education succeeds in making Africa a dumping ground for finished and manufactured products from the west? Africa remains generally poor with a high level of illiteracy, infrastructural gap and decay, ignorance and diseases despite several decades of romance with Western education. To date, solutions to Africa’s problems are still sought largely from the West despite the abundance of human and natural resources. Has western education in Africa been well connected to the development of the region despite the huge resources and time committed to it? Analysts have advised that African scholars should look into the content, method and goals of western education in this region for answers and that if the outcome must change, it must begin with radical adjustment to the input.

3 Critique of Western Education in the Region Western education taught largely foreign content, condemned and repressed indigenous knowledge and values as barbaric and fetish, stigmatised indigenous languages as vernacular that must be discouraged in schools with punishment and thus produced men and women with inferiority complex who had to abandon their indigenous names, belief and religion for the western ones. Children were removed from their homes and camped outside of the towns so as not to be ‘corrupted’ by their communities and culture. They were educated against their indigenous cultures, taught foreign languages, geography and other colonial fallacies such as the claim that Mungo Park discovered River Niger and other contents which ran counter to indigenous values and ethos but only illustrated clash of culture and values. Morality declined with the products of Western education in this region while age-long cultural practices and control were branded as superstitions of the African traditional religions. This is the dilemma Africa has found itself in and has complicated her search for true education and development even at the dawn of a new millennium.

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In Nigeria, a new National Policy on Education was signed into law in 1976. Nigeria has adopted education (Western type) as a tool of development. In the National Policy on Education (1981 Revised), the five main national objectives were stated and endorsed as the necessary foundation for the National Policy on Education. These national objectives were stated as the building of: • • • • •

A free and democratic society; A just and egalitarian society; A united, strong and self-reliant nation; A great and dynamic economy; and A land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens (FGN, 1981, p.7).

The policy listed the values which the educational enterprise should seek to inculcate as: • • • • • •

Respect for the worth and dignity of the individuals; Faith in the human ability to make rational decisions; Moral and spiritual values in interpersonal and human relations; Shared responsibility for the common good of society; Respect for the dignity of labour; and Promotion of the emotional, physical and psychological health of children.

The national aims and objectives drawn from the above national objectives were listed as: • The inculcation of national consciousness and national unity; • The inculcation of the right type of values for the survival of the individual and the Nigerian society; • The training of the mind in the understanding of the world around; and • The acquisition of the appropriate skills, abilities and competencies both mental and physical as equipment for the individual to live and contribute to the development of society (FGN, 1981) Despite all these lofty objectives and one of the best policy directives on education, Nigeria, like Ghana, have been enmeshed in crises of development. These countries are agrarian societies that cannot feed their citizens, major crude oil-producing countries that spend heavily to import refined petroleum products. The highly educated elites of these countries mainly aspire to work in Europe and America while most of the countries’ needs are imported. The political class has been highly criticised. They are reputed to be among the most paid in the world whose emphasis is on the perks of office while they jump from one political party to another. They exploit the religious and ethnic fault lines to negotiate for personal interests while the voters are left in penury. This is an apt illustration of Agbo’s (2010) book titled, How Africans Underdeveloped Africa. We should point out that this appears to be a rather subtle rejoinder to Rodney’s (1972) seminal publication on How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. As of 2020, the number of universities in Nigeria had grown to 170 made up of 43 Federal, 48 State and 79 private ones (Varrella, 2020 in statistica.com/statistics/1,

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accessed 2 March 2021). A similarly high number of other tertiary institutions have been recorded in the country leading to a critical description as a typical example of growth without development. Despite the high number of private universities, they cater for only 5% of students’ admission. These private universities are expensive and mostly outside the reach of many Nigerians. Staff and curricular offerings are often open to criticisms but the ruling elite keeps paying lip service to the development of public education. The sector is underfunded, underperforming and constantly in crisis. How much hope could be placed on such a sector for the development and progress of society? Both Ghana and Nigeria remain economically dependent in need of aids, international loans and conditionalities. Researchers have identified great values inherent in indigenous knowledge and content which can be integrated into formal western education in a bid to achieve a blend of local content and relevance with the benefits of global discoveries, usefulness and contribution to achieve what has been dubbed glocalisation, meaning global in perspective but local in relevance.

4 Glocalisation as a Conceptual Response Against the background of the criticisms of Western education in Africa and the intellectual propositions to it, the notion of glocalisation has become a suitable conceptual frame. Glocalisation as a concept has a Japanese origin according to Khondker (2005) but was first deployed as an academic concept by Prof. Roland Robertson in 1995 who is a British/American Sociologist. It has been defined as “the simultaneous occurrences of both universalising and particularizing tendencies in contemporary social, political and economic systems”. It is said to represent a challenge to simplistic conceptions of globalisation processes as linear expansions of territorial scales (Britannica.com, Researchgate 2771). The key propositions of glocalisation include; (1) Adoption of diversity as the essence of social life; (2) Globalisation does not erase all differences; (3) Autonomy of history and culture gives a sense of consequences to the experiences of groups of people whether we define them as cultures, societies or nations; (4) Glocalisation removes the fear of loss of identity and (5) Although it does not promise a world free from conflicts and tensions. Rather, it is a more historically grounded understanding of the complicated yet pragmatic view of the world (Khondker, 2005, p. 187). Suggestions are therefore necessary on ways to apply and infuse glocalisation into the theory and practice of education to achieve true development in Ghana and Nigeria as well as other African countries with similar historical experience and socio-economic challenges. To achieve this, the need for the decoloniality of epistemology and pedagogy has been canvassed (Falola et al., 2018). In practice, the need to deconstruct the content, method, pedagogy, administration and management of Western education to infuse relevant indigenous knowledge and practices have been canvassed. Only recently in Nigeria and Ghana, history, topics of national relevance and those that are developmentally oriented were reintroduced

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into the Basic Education and secondary school curricula through the advocacy of the Historical Society of Nigeria and similar advocacy groups in Ghana. It is expected that such steps would begin to address issues of identity and greater familiarity with the local history, achievement and possibilities of true development.

5 Critical Reflections The Problem of westernised African education in this region is both internal and external and covers both theory and practice. In the scholarly opinion of Poloma and Szelényi (2019), citing research studies by other scholars, … Westernised universities are engines of coloniality because they privilege Western epistemology while delocalising and marginalising indigenous knowledge (Mignolo, 2003; Shahjahan & Morgan, 2015). The coloniality of knowledge is epitomised by the global dominance of the Euro-American university model and extended through the canonisation of Western curriculum, the privileging of English in instruction and scholarship, and the fetishising of global rankings and Euro-American accreditation (Blanco, 2014; Grosfoguel, 2013; Mignolo, 2003; Shahjahan & Morgan, 2015).

The poor attention received by the sector in government funding, policy conflicts, and internal crisis in the sector compound the pre-existing situation. At a time when the education sector should be addressing decolonisation of theory and curricula, at a time when a huge investment is needed in public education, at a time when the sector should be relied upon for charting the course of economic, social, health, infrastructure and other development, issues of quality and quantity prevail and cast doubt on the feasibility of this objective in the near future. The above position is however gloom and unhelpful as a policy approach. The problems should be properly identified and analysed while the possibilities should be explored as the leading African countries have much more at stake than throwing up their hands in surrender. Of course, there are positive developments in the sector shown in the high number of graduates who have made significant impacts in both public and private sectors and who have been major players in the health, economic, education and other sectors in the diaspora.

6 Agenda for the Future of Development Education in Ghana and Nigeria The future of development of African countries particularly in Ghana and Nigeria lies in relevant and meaningful education. On an education that derives from the culture, ways of life and the ecosystem of the people and on an education that is not set against but advances the interest of the people towards liberation and true development in the true spirit of glocalisation. These countries urgently need an education system

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that addresses their challenges of development such as food security, infrastructural development, health, security of life and property, use and deployment of technology to solve myriads of personal and social problems. They need an education system that embraces the peoples’ culture, advances the indigenous languages and embraces indigenous arts, sciences and technology along with the achievements and positive aspects of western culture and civilization. There are still lessons in indigenous African education that has thrived for centuries in both Ghana and Nigeria. It is characterised by different levels beginning from Home Education to Neighbourhood Education and Community Education similar to Basic, Secondary and Tertiary Education of Western Education. Indigenous education took place in the homes, market places, farms, rivers, workshops, age-grade meetings and interactions including yearly and community festivals (Babarinde, 2016). Indigenous education allows for a variety of knowledge, skills and competencies but is superior in its emphasis on moral development as pointed out much earlier by Majasan in 1967. For example, the Yoruba traditional education standard measure was the production of what they described as Omoluwabi who according to Majasan, Designated those Yoruba whose good character was the traditional model for the community. Its acquisition entailed, as in any process of education, the pursuit of knowledge and of livelihood familiar with colonial objectives, but clearly went much farther. Diligence in keeping custom, civility in public and private affairs, versatility of skills and interest, maturity of judgement: these were hallmarks of a practical, constantly tested intelligence and an emergent wisdom manifested in Omoluwabi. (Majasan cited in Babarinde, 1991, p. 219)

Indigenous education is rich in pedagogic practices such as folktales, lullabies, folksongs, poetry, proverbs and riddles, as argued by Ajayi (2019) who illustrated her presentation with Yoruba examples. The challenge of international development and globalisation cannot be ignored and African scholars, policymakers, politicians with the support of international bodies have been active in proffering solutions. One of such was contained in the Summit Declaration from African Higher Education Summit held in Dakar, Senegal in 2015. The Summit recommended six major areas for attention namely; a movement From Growth to Massification; Improving Financing and Management; Articulation, Harmonization and Quality Assurance; Institutional Autonomy and Governance; Enhancing Research and Innovation and Internationalization and Diaspora Mobilization. A similar summit was organized by the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities in 2016 with equally far-reaching recommendations which included the following Priority Areas for Action such as, (1) Promotion of diversification and differentiation in the higher education system by providing proper conceptual administrative guidelines, and a harmonized legal framework for HEIs and the sector, to engender strict compliance with extant statutes to prevent mission creep and distortion of national development plans; (2) Revision of laws and statutes of HEIs and the higher education system in relation to the regulatory and quality assurance; (3) Leverage ICT as an enabler of the relevance of HEIs and driver of national transformation and sustainable development; (4) Nurture and sustain Centres of Excellence as game changers and anchors/catalysts of the national

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innovation value chain through their unique commitment to research and innovation excellence and promotion of global scholarship; (5) Promotion of HEI’s partnership and synergy with industry, civil society and the natural environment for a better world, through a commitment to the SDGs as a core mission, and enabler of a new paradigm of entrepreneurial empowerment of their products for better uptake and transfer of the output of their research; (6) Widen access to HEIs and strengthen institutional/programme accreditation and quality assurance/quality control mechanisms and procedures in order to restore confidence and acceptability to the output/products (graduates, research output and technology transfer/civic engagement) of universities and other tertiary institutions, and enhance their local and global relevance and competitiveness; and (7) Ensure sustainable funding of education, especially higher education, through determined increased investment by governments at all levels, enhancing the capacity of institutions to fund, internal generation and shared burden by all stakeholders (AVCNU/CVC, 2016). What is needed therefore is for the governments of Ghana and Nigeria to look into these and other recommendations and effect systematic implementations with dedication, optimism, passion and patriotic commitments. The road may be rough but the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. And according to an indigenous African thought captured in a Zambian adage, Don’t only admire another man’s wife, feed and dress your own.

References Adu-Gyamfi, S., Donkoh, W. J., & Addo, A. A. (2016). Educational reforms in Ghana: Past and present. Journal of Education and Human Development, 5(3), 158–172. Agbo, J. (2010). How Africans underdeveloped Africa. A forgotten truth in history. Kraft Books Ltd. Ajayi, E. A. (2019). The role of traditional folklore in facilitating adult learning in Nigeria. International Review of Education, 65(6), 859–877. Akyeampong, K. (2004). Aid for self-help effort? A sustainable alternative route to basic education in northern Ghana. Journal of International Cooperation in Education, 7(1), 41–52. http://sro. sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/49/ Arko-Achemfuor, A. (2018). Naming of children and meaning of names among the Akan of Ghana: Defining identities? Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 28(1), 1–14. Arko-Achemfuor, A., Quan-Baffour, K. P., & Addae, D. (2019). Overview: Adult, community and lifelong education and development in Africa. In A. Arko-Achemfuor, K. P. Quan-Baffour, & D. Addae (Eds.), Adult, continuing and lifelong education and development in Africa (pp. 1–8). Nova Science Publishers. Avoseh, M. B. M. (2012). Proverbs as theoretical frameworks for lifelong learning in indigenous African education. Adult Education Quarterly, 63(3), 236–250. https://doi.org/10.1177/074171 3612462601 Babarinde, S. A. (1991). Education for self-reliance: A philosophical analysis of a Slogan (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis). University of Ibadan. Babarinde, K. (2016). Evolution, development, challenges and prospects of the Nigerian higher education system. In M. O. Faborode & O. Edigheji (Eds.) The future and relevance of Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions (pp. 9–29). Committee of Vice-Chancellors, Nigeria & Trust Africa.

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Babarinde, K., & Adeyinka, B. (2011). Society, political economy and education. Evans Brothers (Nigeria Publishers) Ltd. Brookfield, S. (2017). Racializing the discourse of adult education. In V. C. X. Wang (Ed.), Theory and practice of adult and higher education (pp. 1–31). Information Age Publishing Inc. CVC/AVCNU and TRUSTAFRICA. (2016, November 21–23). A Charter for revitalizing the Nigerian higher education system including declaration and action plan from the Nigerian Higher Education Summit. Abuja, Nigeria. Du Bois, W. E. B. (2005). The souls of black folk. New American Library (Originally published in 1903). Falola, T. (2018). Epistemology seminar on decoloniality. University of Ibadan. FGN. (1981). National policy on education (3rd ed.). NERDC. Johnson-Bailey, J. (2002). Race matters: The unspoken variable in the teaching-learning transaction. In J. M. Ross-Gordon (Ed.), Contemporary viewpoints on teaching adults effectively (pp. 39–50). Jossey-Bass. Khondker, H. H. (2005). Globalisation to glocalisation: A conceptual exploration. Intellectual Discourse, 13(2), 181–199. Lawal, Y. O. (2013). Education as an instrument for effective national development: Which way Nigeria. Business & Entrepreneurship Journal, 2(2), 27–38. MacBeath, J. (2010). Living with the colonial legacy. Centre for Commonwealth Education, Report No. 3. Majasan, J. A. (1967). Yoruba education: Its principles, practice and relevance to current educational development (Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis). University of Ibadan. Nudzor, H. P. (2014). An analytical review of education policy-making and implementation processes within the context of “Decentralized System of Administration” in Ghana. SAGE Open, 4(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244014530885 Outlaw, L. T. (1996). On race and philosophy. Routledge. Poloma, A. W., & Szelényi, K. (2019). Coloniality of knowledge, hybridisation, and indigenous survival: Exploring transnational higher education development in Africa from the 1920s to the 1960s. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 49(4), 635–653. Quan-Baffour, K. P. (2011). The Wisdom of our fathers: Akan proverbs and their contemporary educational value. Southern African Journal for Folklore Studies, 21(1), 30–38. Quan-Baffour, K. P. (2018). Africanising the Catholic Mass celebration in Ghana: Recognising cultural identity or agenda to retain the faithful? Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 44(2), 1–10. Rodney, W. (1972). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. Boglel’Ouverture. Roland, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. Global Modernities, 25–44. Sefa Dei, G., & Opini, B. M. (2007). Schooling in the context of difference: The challenge of postcolonial education in Ghana. In D. Thiessen & A. Cook-Sather (Eds.), International handbook of student experience in elementary and secondary school (pp. 463–491). Springer. Shore, S. (2001). Talking about whiteness: “Adult learning principles” and the invisible norm. Making space: Merging theory and practice in adult education, 42–56. Taiwo, C. O. (1980). The Nigerian education system: Past, present, and the future. Thomas Nelson. The World Bank. (2018). Human capital index and components. Retrieved from https://www.wor ldbank.org/en/data/interactive/2018/10/18/human-capital-index-and-components-2018

Chapter 6

Adoption and Use of Indigenous Knowledge to Promote Education for Sustainable Development in Africa Samuel Jabez Arkaifie and Mpho Mildred Dichaba

Abstract The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) requires every individual to be an active participates and not just a passive observer and this also requires a change of mindset and behaviour towards the environment and fellow human beings which education is believed to be key. Yet, having a “global proposal” without taking into consideration the context within which the actions are taking place cast doubt as to whether the goals will be achieved by 2030. This is especially true with indigenous communities where the western type of education has led to a constant mismatch between the skills possessed by graduates and what is required in the job market as well as solving the problems of their communities. This chapter posits that the achievement of ESD must be through integration of indigenous knowledge as core in the educational system of indigenous communities. A typical example is the belief and philosophy of Ubuntu which was shared among indigenous people in Africa. Thus, through the recognition of the efficacy of indigenous knowledge, the chapter recommends that custodians of indigenous knowledge must be consulted and relevant knowledge be incorporated into the educational curriculum. The chapter further claims that instructors and students should be allowed to evaluate multiple perspectives and adopt appropriate content to promote confidence for transformative action. Moreover, indigenous people must overcome the major challenge of eradicating the root of western education, culture, and eastern religious beliefs to pave way for the complete integration of indigenous knowledge.

S. J. Arkaifie (B) University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] Cape Coast Technical University, Cape Coast, Ghana M. M. Dichaba Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_6

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1 Introduction World leaders have recognised that even though they can mobilise financial resources as well as technological support to seek for sustainable future, they cannot achieve this goal without the education of citizens since it requires a change in the way individuals think and act towards the environment. This makes education so fundamental in achieving sustainable development which led to the launch of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD, 2005–2014). Member states noted after 2014 that UNDESD was able to raise awareness for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) across the world by mobilising various stakeholders to come out with policies and at the same time promoted collaboration and coordination. However, awareness creation alone could not change the way citizens think and act, but rather, there was the need for action at all levels to enhance sustainable development for all. As such, Global Action Programme (GAP) on ESD was initiated as a follow-up to UNDESD to ensure that education for sustainable development is promoted and at the same time, sustainable development is integrated into education for all citizens beyond awareness creation. Thus, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), member states are required to adopt and use the prescribed global comprehensive programme on SDGs through education of all. While education may be key, the process of transmitting the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes in the achievement of the SDGs cannot be overlooked especially with indigenous communities. As noted by Lotz-Sisitka and Lupele (2017) and reiterated by Sandoval-Rivera (2020), the discourse of ESD is framed in global proposals which downplay the importance of indigenous knowledge. Meanwhile, some indigenous communities with less or no form of education in the classroom have been able to survive even the worst form of climatic and other emerging ecological challenges through the adoption and use of indigenous knowledge. Even though member states and UNESCO believe indigenous knowledge has a place in implementing ESD, main action guidelines like GAP failed to draw the attention of member states regarding indigenous knowledge. The question one is left to ask is does the global proposals for our educational system relevant and appropriate looking at our context? Will the integration of ESD into the educational curriculum change the mindset of indigenous people when framed in indigenous knowledge? The above queries and questions call for a probe and recognition of the potency of indigenous knowledge in fostering a sustainable future for indigenous people. Interestingly, indigenous knowledge has been identified to be rooted in the culture and associated with the environment or context in which indigenous people exist. Through creativity and practical orientation, indigenous knowledge has been built and transmitted from generation to generation to help mitigate environmental and other challenges confronted by these indigenous people. The knowledge and practices shape their way of life and their mindset to respond to the values and practices shared within the community to sustain their lives and the things around them. Hens (2006) identified indigenous knowledge as knowledge developed by families and communities over a long period of time and allowed to stay within the environment

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through hands-on training and demonstration. As noted by authors in indigenous knowledge, (Elias et al., 2009) indigenous knowledge is strongly connected to nature and spiritualism which equips indigenous individuals with a sense of relationship and responsibility towards nature. Because of these beliefs and practices, indigenous communities approach their daily activities with care, a sense of respect (Ubuntu) and reverence to the things around them since they give meaning to their lives, livelihood and environmental welfare. Through the application of the principles and values of indigenous knowledge, their communities have been able to survive challenges posed by developmental strategies carried out by their governments or foreign institutions that seem to create most of the ecological problems like climatic change (Kupika et al., 2019). Indigenous knowledge has also been useful in the management of natural resources and the protection of the environment (Magni, 2017) and therefore, has the potential of helping to foster sustainable development through the provision of solution to environment, social and economic issues. Since the recognition of the sustainable development concept, various platforms of the United Nations have been used to see how best to achieve a sustainable future. Education is now placed at the centre to ensure that sustainable development is achieved through the launch of Agenda 21 (Chapter 36) by the UN and member states in 1992. The UNESCO (2018) has noted that education must equip individuals with values and attitudes that will make the individual a responsible citizen and at the same time nurture the individual with creativity and emotional development. As a result, through education, sustainable development is to ensure that individuals are empowered with the needed competencies through a holistic approach to help build a sustainable future. According to UNESCO, ESD involves incorporating sustainable issues in the teaching and learning curriculum through a participatory approach with a sense of empowering individuals or learners with competencies that will bring about a change in their behaviour and actions in ways to ensure a sustainable future. Thus, ESD requires a modification of educational content with issues of sustainable development as well as a change in teaching and learning approach where students or learners are placed at the centre to empower them to take bold action that could result in sustainable development not only for current generations but unborn or future generations as well. Thus, the definition reflects a holistic approach that embraces different perspectives from learners and their instructors including their cultural context which shapes the construction of knowledge, skills, and competencies to be acquired. Even though researchers have revealed evidence of indigenous knowledge being effective and important for the promotion of a sustainable future, the knowledge from the indigenous people have been silenced from both national and international discussions (Magni, 2017). As noted by Etchart (2017) when it comes to issues of climatic change and other ecological issues that affect indigenous people, instead of indigenous communities being seen as agents for the protection of the environment on adverse effects of the weather, indigenous communities are rather seen as victims of climatic change. This victim mentality prevent indigenous people from getting a voice in how to put in place the right measures. Thus, indigenous knowledge hardly finds itself in the educational curriculum and other major discussions but rather

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indigenous communities are expected to implement reforms recommended by international institutions. While some international institutions like UNESCO and others acknowledge in some of their documents that indigenous knowledge is important and can bring about a change in the life of people, their findings and recommendations are hardly in comprehensive programmes like ESD and GAP. As already indicated, SDGs are framed in global proposals and GAP, which is supposed to be the framework for incorporation of ESD into the educational curriculum as well as other forms of education, lack local context. Therefore, if care is not taken, indigenous communities may become worse off if they wait and implement these global proposals without contextualizing them to suit their educational system. Indeed, it is important to assess the perspectives of indigenous people as to whether indigenous knowledge can help bring about sustainable development. A positive answer to the above assessment should result in how best indigenous knowledge can be framed, adopted, and used as a replacement for the global proposal of ESD within the local context. It is also important to highlight some of the likely challenges to be faced by educationalists, indigenous knowledge expertise, and other key educational stakeholders in integrating indigenous knowledge into the educational curriculum. This chapter seeks to address the above queries and also add a voice for an urgent call to incorporate indigenous knowledge into the educational curriculum to avoid the erosion of the knowledge and also serve as the basis for Education for Sustainable Development in indigenous communities rather than the global proposals.

2 The Perspective of Indigenous Knowledge The belief that Western knowledge solves all problems of mankind is continuously held by some academics, practitioners, and even individuals in indigenous communities. This has affected the way “other” knowledge is held by others as inferior to Western knowledge and as such, most international and national discussions promote Western knowledge in almost every important intervention of man, especially for indigenous communities. Yet, indigenous knowledge, practiced by indigenous people, has been their way of life and the essence of their continued existence. Indigenous knowledge has been shared and persevered from generation to generation even though most of these knowledge have not been documented since they are transmitted orally (Kothari, 2007), and continues to disappear with time. It has been recognized that indigenous communities who value the knowledge, especially the elderly and those with an appreciation for indigenous culture, continue to practice and transmit the knowledge through their family lineage and community association. Through hands-on demonstration, observation, and imitation, indigenous knowledge are shared among family members with an interaction with the environment all in a bid to promote the values and beliefs of the family and the community, depending on the focus (Hens, 2006). Interestingly, most of these indigenous knowledge are shared within a particular community or environment which makes it difficult to transmit to another environment without seeking the appropriateness of the knowledge (Magni,

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2017). Thus, for the knowledge to be beneficial for a particular family or community, indigenous knowledge must be contextualized in order to be applied to a specific or similar condition for good results to be earned. As noted by Dei et al. (2020), knowledge acquired by learners after pursuing an academic qualification should end up in societal transformation in which members of a particular community have a high expectation that the graduate will help solve some of the challenges in the society. Unfortunately, education based on the western form in indigenous communities has failed to equip students with these essential transformative skills. Yet, through a participatory approach where knowledge is disseminated through stories, rituals, songs as well as folklore (Kothari, 2007), various indigenous knowledge have been transferred and individuals considered to be “illiterates” equipped to help carry out activities that seek to promote sustainable future while addressing societal challenges in their small ways. Arguably, this can be attributed to the philosophical underpinnings of indigenous people who attach indigenous knowledge to spirituality, ubuntu, and wisdom which are often embedded in their culture and nature. This emphasizes the importance that indigenous people attached to the knowledge they hold because they have a strong respect for spirituality which shapes the way they behave towards the knowledge they possess. Again, indigenous knowledge can achieve better results because it is not developed in isolation, but rather developed through community problems and since it is problem-based, solutions identified are applied to the existing problems in order to resolve them. This also allows indigenous knowledge to be varied and verified depending on changing conditions. Hence, indigenous knowledge is recognised as lifelong which requires continuous learning and reshaping the knowledge acquired to help individuals stay updated. As postulated by Battiste (2002) and Kanstrup-Jensen (2006) indigenous people train their people for life through life experiences that are practical in demonstration and experiential. Interestingly, most of these principles in indigenous knowledge have been discarded by most indigenous communities and institutions, and they have rather adopted foreign forms of education which they are still struggling to apply beyond the classroom. Importantly, these principles ranging from how indigenous knowledge are developed, transmitted, and implemented are all part of the twenty-firstcentury skills espoused by global institutions. Specifically, indigenous knowledge is based on the problem, shared through a participatory and collaborative approach, and through practice, observation and imitation, learners are equipped with skills to be independent learners. Also, since indigenous knowledge is not static but dynamic, learners have the opportunity to explore and with the guide of the elderly implement appropriate solutions until they develop and become independent. Thus, the learner continues to learn, unlearn and relearn until appropriate solutions are found to solve the problems which make the individual a life learner. More so, indigenous knowledge is situated in practices that are meant to show respect towards nature as well as human (ubuntu) since it is the survival of biodiversity and human that is ensured. Since indigenous knowledge has been transmitted from generation to generation through relevant experience and with the aim of developing the whole being of a

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person, ESD promoting lifelong learning is not surprising because the roots of it are from the principles of indigenous knowledge. Proudly, the early conceptualization of Ubuntu viewed it as a form of communalism that influences behaviour in terms of principles and practices to enhance solidarity, respect, dignity, and interconnectedness (Mbigi, 1997). Thus, the individual does not seek his or her interest ahead of the community but rather while pursuing the interest of the community, their personal goals are achieved. This sense of common goal or interest enabled indigenous people to work towards the interest of the community, the environment, and the unborn generations which will lead to personal interest being fulfilled. However, due to the indoctrination of indigenous people by western cultures and knowledge, most indigenous individuals have been made to believe that pursuing the common goal of the community will make their personal goals subordinate to that of the group. Therefore, indigenous people have placed the interest of the community in the background and made their personal interest paramount within the societal context. This has led to people adopting harmful practices in farming, hunting, and fishing, just to meet their immediate needs as against the needs of the community and the protection of the environment. This is also evident in the high rate of corruption in institutions in indigenous communities where people are more interested in what they will get for themselves rather than to help build a future that would meet the needs of the present and future generations (Fig. 1). It is firmly established that global proposals like the ESD cannot be implemented holistically without looking at the context in which it is being applied. With indigenous communities, for instance, adopting and using foreign comprehensive solutions to indigenous problems may provide a temporary solution but later create a bigger problem that may be worse than the previous. It is, therefore, important for indigenous communities to adopt and use appropriate interventions that would last and ensure a sustainable future for all. As already noted, the behaviours and attitudes

Fig. 1 A simplified model for adoption and use of indigenous knowledge for ESD

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of indigenous individuals are shaped by their beliefs in the principles and values of spirituality. This influences the way they behaviour towards each other and the environment. Moreso, the principles and philosophy of Ubuntu also shape indigenous individuals. Ubuntu has been recognized as the root and the foundation of all behaviours of indigenous people, especially those in Africa, who are expected to show a connection with each other and the environment in which they exist. Regrettably, getting the right and exact words to describe Ubuntu in the English language is difficult since its meaning and essence are lost as a result of translation (Le Grange, 2011; Mbigi, 1997; Metz, 2014; Tutu, 2000). Ubuntu is also linked to the experiences and practices of indigenous people from Africa which could be properly understood when an individual also experiences the feeling and emotional attachment of Ubuntu, that is, within the context of the African community. Nonetheless, in a bid to explain what Ubuntu is, Tutu (2000) narrated that, Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language. It speaks of the very essence of being human. When we want to give high praise to someone we say, ‘Yu, u nobuntu’; ‘Hey, so-and-so has ubuntu.’ Then you are generous, you are hospitable, you are friendly and caring and compassionate. You share what you have. It is to say, ‘My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in yours.’ We belong in a bundle of life. We say, ‘A person is a person through other persons.’ It is not, ‘I think therefore I am.’ It says rather: ‘I am human because I belong. I participate, I share.’ A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished when others are tortured or oppressed, or treated as if they were less than who they are (p. 24).

The meaning expressed by Tutu (2000) goes a long way to, at least, allow individuals who have not experienced the sense and practices of Ubuntu to get a fair idea of what the philosophy means to the people of Africa. Ubuntu expresses individual willingness to share because of compassion for each other, togetherness, respect, care, humane, and hospitality. Tutu’s explanation also shows how Ubuntu serves as a form of a knowledge system for the indigenous people of Africa. Just as Waghid (2020) identified from the description of Ubuntu by Tutu, three important points are elaborated, that is, “sharing, belonging and participation”. Like any form of knowledge acquisition, the knowledge must be transmitted from one person to another. Through sharing, an individual avails him or herself to willingly share with others best practices or good things the individual has discovered. This is especially true where neighbours or groups of people are faced with a challenge that needs a solution. An indigenous individual who discovers the solution to such a challenge voluntarily shares with neighbours or colleagues what he or she has discovered because the individual recognises how much as an individual is connected to his or her neighbour. This is what Tutu (2000) refers to as belonging and such individuals show care and generosity. Ubuntu as a knowledge system also involves participation. This is where the individual together with the neighbours or group participate to assess the solution or new thing to identify whether it can solve the challenge or not. Thus, through hands-on approach, the indigenous people work together without being selfish to test before putting into use

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the discovered solution. This forms the foundation and backbone of Ubuntu as an indigenous knowledge system. Mbigi (1997) and Ngubane and Makua (2021) aver that the ability of indigenous people to show respect to each other, demonstrating a sense of togetherness and the ability of indigenous individuals to co-exist showed how Ubuntu served as a philosophy for traditional education even when indigenous people had little to do with formal education. Hence, the belief and philosophy of Ubuntu demonstrate the extent to which indigenous knowledge unites man, environment, and spirituality to ensure a sustainable indigenous community. Just like attitudes that influence individual behaviours and actions, the knowledge of Ubuntu requires indigenous people to evaluate their decisions and actions to ensure a greater good of people without compromising the interest and existence of other individuals. Ubuntu, therefore, expresses the humanness of individuals which must guide all the activities of man. Thus, spirituality and Ubuntu influence the way of life of indigenous people as they engage in activities that seek to promote the welfare of others and the environment as a whole. Hence, spirituality, Ubuntu, and culture are intertwined to influence the way of life of indigenous people. Cunningham (2010) and Magni (2016) have noted from indigenous communities that women and the elderly were mostly the holders of indigenous knowledge. These individuals ensured the transmission of indigenous cultures and practices from one generation to another. Again, individuals who are considered to be experienced through practice are also considered to be custodians of indigenous knowledge. These individuals continue to transmit the knowledge they possess to their learners through the adoption of a participatory and collaborative approach to teaching and learning. Since indigenous knowledge is embedded in real problems, the elderly, women and experienced individuals use the problem as the basis for teaching and learning by encouraging observation, demonstration, imitation, and practice from the learner. The learner is allowed to share his or her experience as they are engaged in learning which helps to improve learning with the context in which it is carried out. Sustainable development has been recognized to address three important societal issues which include economic, social, and environmental issues. These dimensions are considered to be intertwined and as such must be achieved hand-in-hand as highlighted in the 17 goals of SDG. Remarkably, the contributions of indigenous knowledge systems towards the achievement of sustainable development have been a long-term agenda even when the knowledge was transmitted from generation to generation. Even though indigenous people had their own problems they used to face, modernizations pursued by international bodies and various governments have increased indigenous problems relating to the economic, social, and environment. And instead of adopting and using indigenous solutions to the problems created, most indigenous people have been brainwashed to rather go for western or foreign methods which only promise short-term solutions with long-term dire challenges. These have made the adoption of corrective measures difficult and seem to be out of reach of indigenous people if they are not allowed to adopt and use indigenous knowledge systems.

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Thus, the above model demonstrate that to adopt and use indigenous knowledge as a framework in indigenous communities to go beyond awareness creation of sustainable development, ESD must adopt local context to change the mindset of indigenous individuals. Hence, the principles, values, and beliefs of spirituality, ubuntu and culture of indigenous communities serve as the foundation of their way of life which will transform the way indigenous people think and act. The elderly, women and experienced individuals who have been transformed by these principles and beliefs are considered to be custodians of the indigenous knowledge and they continue to learn and transfer what they know to others. As such, they use participatory and collaborative approaches to transmit the knowledge they possess to their learners. Since what is taught is based on problem, the learners are able to relate to what they learn and become transformational leaders who will contribute towards a sustainable future by addressing economic, social and environment issues embedded in the concept of sustainable development. Consequently, ESD can be intergrated into the educational curriculum when ESD is framed in indigenous context through the adoption of the above framework.

3 Use of Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable Development In terms of promoting sustainable development with economic issues, it is sad to note that western education and solutions have been portrayed to offer the best intervention to the economic needs of indigenous communities, yet their solutions have rather exposed individuals to unsustainable practices. For instance, indigenous people were often engaged in barter trade where individuals exchanged their products with others who may need the product each had without money. This encouraged individuals to continue production of their products and services and no matter how complex their trade was, they were willing to go the extra mile to produce to be able to exchange their products with others. Indigenous individuals were willing to produce quality products and services because the quality determined what to get. Farmers, for example, who used indigenous ideas and practices were able to produce crops that were of high quality and nutrition and could be stored for longer periods as compared to foodstuffs produced with scientific methods. This promoted healthy eating and the rate at which a person may claim to be sick was very small or non-existence. Thus, through the cultivation of healthy foods without any form of chemicals and other harmful substances, farmers were able to adopt natural elements that promote healthy yields and were very environmentally friendly. Waste from foodstuffs, together with leaves and other by-products of other plants were used as manure in planting and any disease that affected the plants was dealt with through the application of traditional means. This ensured that citizens of indigenous communities lived a healthy lifestyle and ensured that they lived long to see the birth of their great-grandchildren. However, due to the western introduction of money, individuals have become more greedy

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because they had to adopt all means to produce more to sell to get money. This has led to poverty and bad practices as individuals adopt and use short-cut means of production rather than using the indigenous systems that assured sustainability. Senanayake (2006) states that the increase in poverty has led to more pressure on natural resources which has led to exponential increases in the loss of biodiversity. It is worthy of note that before the influx of western civilization and colonization, the people of indigenous communities were made to understand that the welfare of others was important and must be respected which is evident in the concept of Ubuntu, especially in Africa. This promoted social sustainability by enhancing social inclusion and protection of the environment to ensure good drinking water as well as proper means of education for all. Thus, in their daily activities, indigenous people were more generous and ready to share what they had, especially food, with their families and neighbours who lacked. This enhanced brotherly love and this was emphasized by Sandoval-Rivera (2020) who revealed from his study that women who went on fishing brought back fish to individuals who were unable to go fishing due to illness. This concept is termed “Tapalewis”, meaning to share, which is also similar to the Ubuntu concept but rather practiced in the Zaragoza community of Mexico. The author further pointed out that, due to Tapalewis, indigenous people were supportive whenever a member was to lead in organizing events. The other members would support the member with either proceeds from their trade or give some of their products free to the member for the events. These practices promoted inclusion since individuals will not feel that they had been left out on their own. Again, as respect is shared among individuals, abusing others was not tolerated because individuals were each other’s keeper, and therefore, any person suffering from abuse is fought for by other individuals. Due to inclusion, the elderly were willing to accept the views of the younger ones whenever decisions were being made and there was no distinction between a child of one family and that of another family. This allowed the elderly to correct and shape the lifestyle of kids who were going wayward. With environmental sustainability, indigenous knowledge systems have been used by various indigenous communities to overcome disasters even before the realisation of ESD. Communities had to find ways of coping with natural disasters like floods and drought as well as other extreme situations to minimise the negative effects of the disasters. To reduce famine and poverty, indigenous communities studied the trends of these natural disasters and grew indigenous crop varieties that could mature early before the disaster as well as livestock diversification (Elias et al., 2009). These and others helped the communities to even survive hazardous climatic conditions since they had put in place coping mechanisms and built a well-conserved environment. This also portrays how diverse and dynamic indigenous knowledge are since the techniques selected are not in vain but must be in line with the problem at hand and the appropriateness of the solution. Thus, coping mechanisms adopted by indigenous people are influenced by their cultural features as well as socio-economic situations which vary from one locality to another (Kronik & Verner, 2010). In line with these coping mechanisms, farmers in various indigenous communities across Africa continue to adopt generational practices that allow them to determine when to plant or not. In Kenya for instance, Guthiga and Newsham (2011) observed that

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farmers in some communities have adopted ways of forecasting the weather by observing the behaviour of some creatures like ants and birds. They also emphasized that the communities also used the timing of flowering of some trees to determine when to plant their seeds. These practices are not just limited to some communities in Kenya, since Ofori-Sarpong (2001) had noted earlier that weather conditions continue to vary and have affected the productivity of most farmers in Ghana. As such, farmers in Northern Ghana in determining soil ready for planting, use the growth of some grasses. This process enables farmers to determine the moisture of the soil while others adopt combining crop varieties as a strategy in responding to climate change. To further protect biodiversity, indigenous people were guided by their culture and spirituality which they hold in respect of the environment. These cultures and spirituality were grounded in their beliefs and values which helped the indigenous communities to respect the environment as well as animals. Thus, through traditional practices and taboos, which used to exist in Ghana in relation to farming, fishing, and hunting, individuals were prevented from carrying out activities on certain days and some “scared” places. Through these practices, virgin forests, water bodies and other biodiversity were preserved, and farmers, fishermen, and hunters had better yields. This is also observed by Gyampoh et al. (2011) who noted that through sociocultural practices and beliefs, forests were conserved by indigenous people in Ghana. Asante (2011) further explained that it was possible to conserve the forest because indigenous people had the belief that the home of the gods and dead ancestors were the forest and therefore, undertaking harmful practices would lead to dire consequences. Senanayake (2006) has noted that while indigenous knowledge is broader in perspective and more practical in managing resources sustainably, most indigenous people have replaced it with western ideas or colonial forms of education that are more theoretical. This practice of theoretical knowledge poses a great risk to indigenous knowledge in terms of properly sustaining the ecology since it lacks practical steps in achieving sustainability. Other researchers have also added that indigenous knowledge is at the mercy of extinction because most indigenous people have abandoned indigenous knowledge and adopted western knowledge, colonial mentality, and foreign religious beliefs (Elias et al., 2009; Kothari, 2007; Sandoval-Rivera, 2020). The disregard for indigenous knowledge and the craving for western and foreign knowledge have led most indigenous individuals to view indigenous practices with contempt. This is not surprising that UNESCO identified in 2009 that one of the vulnerable groups hit by climate change and other adverse effects is the indigenous populations (UNESCO, 2017). Again, even though most of the indigenous knowledge may not have been documented, most of the lessons that they sort to espouse were to promote a sustainable future that could ensure the continued survival of man and the environment. It may be noted that western worldviews were unable to immediately prove the potencies of the indigenous practices and as a result, led to their intense attack or their contempt against indigenous practices. To add to the debate, due to western knowledge and culture, the value of the knowledge of Ubuntu and the pride associated with it continue to be adulterated and replaced to meet some selfish needs of individuals and groups who lack the

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foundation of this great know-how. This is reiterated by Thakhathi and Netshitangani (2020) who emphasized that “the Africa of today seems to have forgotten that this wisdom emerged from, and is indeed rooted in, embodied social practice” (p. 4). It is, again, not surprising that the environment continues to be polluted and destroyed while indigenous people continue to suffer for their selfish choices as against the unity that used to exist among them. Before the colonization and indoctrination of the indigenous people, individuals acknowledged that their existence, progress, and quality of life was as a result of the existence of others. This made indigenous people more conscious of their actions and inactions by showing great affection towards each other as well as empathize with each other. Since their belief systems were centered around humanity, spirituality, and nature, the activities of individuals were carried out with other individuals in mind and the environment, which was surrounded by things that were respected and treated as possessing power. Based on these core foundations, the decisions of indigenous people were expected to be in line with the community because the well-being of the community and its existence will reflect the wellbeing and existence of the individuals within the communities (Gade, 2013). Thus, a person is a person through other people and what affects him or her.

4 Framing ESD in the Context of Indigenous Knowledge As the UN aims in expanding the successes of UNDESD by implementing ESD in educational curriculum and not only as an “add-on” but rather being core in education, public awareness, and training, it is appropriate to also conceptualise ESD in the context of indigenous knowledge into all aspects of our education including public awareness and training to ensure all-inclusive and at the same time fulfil the words of UNESCO “none is left behind”. It is also said that information is now in abundance and easily accessible, therefore, there is the need to make available indigenous knowledge to students to analyse it, make sense of what they have available by collaborating with others and their instructors to enable them to synthesis and communicate what best works and not with the scepticism that the colonial mentality has created about indigenous knowledge. As such, international institutions seeking to change the attitude of individuals across the globe should not rely on global proposals as a basis for ensuring a sustainable future for indigenous communities. Rather, proposals that seek to contextualize the competencies in line with the problems of the indigenous communities seem ideal and appropriate to avoid any further mismatch and unsustainable practices. Consequently, the continuous extinction and disregard for indigenous knowledge and practices cannot be ignored looking at how potent they have been and existed over these long periods. Evidence exists that some indigenous communities have already taken the initiative to document and also make indigenous knowledge part of the academic curriculum in order to preserve and help equip students with the relevant competencies for the students to help solve problems faced by their communities.

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As a result, the evaluation of the concept of Education for Sustainable Development and that of indigenous knowledge postulate a common agenda. This agenda is aimed at promoting development and at the same time protecting the environment and enhancing the well-being of individuals. Thus, the United Nations General Assembly through the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) pointed out that “respect for indigenous knowledge, cultures, and traditional practices contributes to sustainable and equitable development and proper management of the environment” (UN, 2007, p. 2). As such, pursuing Education for Sustainable Development with an intention of going beyond awareness creation to changing the way individuals think and act must be based on relevant knowledge that individuals can easily relate to. Hence, as various reforms continue to take place in academic institutions with the aim of incorporating issues of sustainable development into the curriculum, indigenous knowledge must be at the core of the reforms in order to make ESD more relevant and achievable. With this, academic institutions should be ready to consult individuals with the appropriate indigenous knowledge to contribute to the development of the curriculum. One of the ways professionals and industry players recommend bridging the mismatch between knowledge, skills, and attitudes acquired from school and those required for work, is the involvement of the industry experts in developing academic curriculum (Thapa, 2018). Industry stakeholders are expected to provide input in developing relevant academic programmes that will ensure graduates are equipped with competencies needed for employment and self-employment. Similarly, custodians of indigenous knowledge must be consulted to contribute towards the development of educational curriculum if indeed academic institutions proclaim to incorporate sustainability issues into the curriculum. Consequently, Cunningham (2010) and Magni (2017) have noted from indigenous communities that women and the elderly were mostly the holders of indigenous knowledge and therefore, academic institutions must consult relevant women and elderly individuals to share their knowledge for relevant curriculum to be developed. As observed by Barnhardt (2008), in Alaska, elderly people were involved in the planning of educational curriculum, instructional planning as well as its implementation because elderly people were considered as custodians of indigenous knowledge. Thus, there is recognition of dialogue and balance of power in decision-making among communities and educational institutions and this also shows a high level of respect for indigenous knowledge (Magni, 2017). As already noted, indigenous knowledge have been transmitted from generation to generation through stories, songs, and folklore. Therefore, integrating indigenous knowledge into the school curriculum may require academics to collect stories from custodians of the knowledge into storybooks through a tailor-made format to help preserve and also transmit the knowledge to the intended audience. This will ensure that instructors are provided with a meaningful instructional manual that would serve as a guide as they create content and engage with their students. Again, according to UNESCO, ESD involves incorporating sustainable issues in the teaching and learning curriculum through a participatory approach with a sense of empowering individuals or learners with competencies that will bring about a change

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in their behaviour and actions in ways to ensure a sustainable future. Thus, ESD requires a modification of educational content with issues of sustainable development as well as a change in teaching and learning approach where students or learners are placed at the centre to empower them to take bold actions that could result in sustainable development not only for current generations but unborn or future generations as well. In relation to indigenous knowledge, the participatory approach is achieved through the collaboration between the learner and the instructor. Although the instructor possesses the knowledge, practical demonstrations are carried out to allow the learner to have a feel of what the knowledge can achieve. This would allow both parties to construct knowledge based on the results achieved after a demonstration and this will also reflect the fundamental relevance of Ubuntu where sharing, belonging and participation will envelope students to promote social action. Also, the ability of educational institutions and relevant stakeholders to incorporate indigenous knowledge into educational curriculum and public discussions stands a great chance of achieving the goals of sustainable development. Incorporating indigenous knowledge into the school curriculum, according to Zidny et al. (2020), can enable students to develop positive attitudes and experiences towards what they learn. This is because students found such a curriculum to be more interesting and relevant to things they already know which also promotes student’s personal experience in learning (Zidny et al., 2020). Learning will also be insightful for students as the students believe they are more poised to tackle sustainability issues when learning occurs through multiple perspectives. Hence, to develop the holistic being of the students, instructors must accommodate multiple perspectives from students and not just what is stated in the curriculum since this will build the confidence of the students as they engage in the construction of knowledge. Moreover, as already noted, indigenous knowledge is dynamic and developed through experience and therefore, the ability of the instructor to accommodate the views of the students through Ubuntu principles of sharing, belonging, and participation, as well as make available multiple perspectives will allow constant evaluation of the appropriateness of the knowledge they acquire in solving complex and evolving problems. Unfortunately, most indigenous educational institutions have already lost their identity which should have been the philosophical underpinning of the way students think, behave and express how and what they feel in terms of reality and life. The colonized education has already taken a deep root in the educational system which makes it extremely difficult in bringing the colonized knowledge into the periphery while placing indigenous knowledge at the centre of learning. Cockburn (2015) advises that due to varying interests, power-play could exist between holders of indigenous knowledge and western knowledge, and therefore, each stakeholder must recognise and acknowledge the value of each other’s knowledge and rather than competing stakeholders should collaborate. This will ensure a more participatory approach between scientific knowledge and that of indigenous knowledge since each can fill the gap left between the other (Magni, 2017). Even as global leaders continue to pronounce that no one must be left behind, if there is a need to integrate indigenous and scientific knowledge, both must be assessed to see the long-term effects to see which of them works best. As a result, there should be a balance as proponents

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for ESD must recognize the importance and efficacy of indigenous knowledge in ensuring a sustainable future rather than discarding the indigenous knowledge. The ESD approach is about learning by doing and therefore, this approach varies from how it is carried out in formal education, community level, and global level which requires recognition and use of indigenous knowledge to ensure contextualizing issues.

5 Challenges in Using Indigenous Knowledge for ESD Magni (2016) posits that although the international community acknowledges the effectiveness and importance of indigenous knowledge in resolving sustainable issues, indigenous people have been mostly ignored in participating in discussions leading to major decision-making in incorporating indigenous knowledge. It has also been emphasized that developmental projects and natural resource exploitation have also contributed to the lack of rights for indigenous people. This is because the continuous excavation of indigenous lands and other natural resources for socioeconomic activities reduces the well-being of indigenous people since it makes indigenous people lose control. Again, due to western education and eastern religious beliefs, most indigenous people have been indoctrinated that the cultural practices of indigenous communities are ungodly and evil, and therefore, people are not ready to do anything relating to indigenous practices. This has affected the pronunciation of indigenous knowledge as valuable in indigenous communities. Wals and Kieft (2010) point out that in ensuring that human development is achieved through education for a better life, Africa has not been able to progress well. This has mostly been attributed to the mindset of Africans and their craving for foreign cultures, practices, and education. The impact of this will make it difficult to incorporate indigenous knowledge in education, training as well as public awareness without a strong will to change. As such, reviving such a mindset needs a serious paradigm shift that must affect the foundation of the continent. Some of the reasons accounting for the lack of indigenous knowledge in the educational curriculum are attributed to the fact that the educational system promotes more homogenisation for western knowledge (Stavenhagen, 2015). The educational system is more of western knowledge than indigenous knowledge because the educational system lacks context relevance and hardly recognise local language as a medium of communication (Batibo, 2009; Radoll, 2015). UNESCO (2016) observed that most indigenous countries did not have an educational curriculum in their mother tongue. Yet, all the above challenges are surmountable only if leaders take a conscious effort and determination to free their communities and countries from the imprisonment of their mental slavery.

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6 Conclusion The seemly silence of African leaders and some indigenous communities in the promotion of indigenous knowledge and practices for the achievement of a sustainable future raises serious doubt as to whether the continent will be able to achieve the 2030 agenda for ESD. It is regrettable that most of these countries continue to place indigenous knowledge at the periphery or hardly even discuss its efficacy and yet, are training citizens who possess a mismatch between what they learn and what is required as a solution to the problems of the continent. Unfortunately, this kind of approach will hardly lead to a change in the way individuals think and behave towards the environment and their follow human beings. As a result, Africa leaders must reflect and go back to their roots to consider the potencies of indigenous knowledge and allow their educational systems to be rooted in the indigenous knowledge and practices to enable a solid solution to the problems faced by the continent. The leaders must recognise that the foundation of the indigenous people is on spirituality and Ubuntu which affect their way of life. Thus, constantly ignoring the way of life of indigenous communities and depending on global institutions to recommend solutions that are alien to the continent will only address at least the symptoms of the problems and not the root cause. Therefore, Africa leaders must be open to each other and must dialogue to see how best indigenous knowledge and practices will gain their rightful place in the continent again to ensure a sustainable future for all. Sadly, several educational reforms have been carried out in Ghana yet, indigenous knowledge has not been extensively captured in any of the reforms. Students in our educational systems are impacted with all sorts of knowledge but still, they graduate and contribute to our inability to sustain the environment. While most of these reforms are recommended by global institutions, records from some of these global institutions, for example, the World Bank in terms of human capital index, postulate that more than 50% of Ghana’s human capital will go waste because of poor quality of education. While the international community recognises the important roles played by indigenous knowledge in promoting a sustainable future, an important document produced by the UN Communications Group (UNCG) in Ghana and the Civil Society Platform on SDGs (2017) could not acknowledge or give space for indigenous knowledge. In the said document, goal one of SGD (No poverty) acknowledged the role played by science to eradicate poverty while indigenous knowledge was not mentioned. It was stated as part of the strategy in achieving no poverty that “Science provides the foundation for new and sustainable approaches, solutions and technologies to tackle the challenges of reducing poverty and achieving sustainable development” (p. 5). This may be considered as oversight and maybe the debate for framing ESD in indigenous knowledge was not aloud enough. The model identified in this chapter should help the government of Ghana to identify how to integrate indigenous knowledge into any future SDG communication. Indeed, ESD is framed in western philosophy and most of the development that has resulted in the depletion of a sustainable future is created by the western world because they have the money and technology to transform the natural resources with

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little concern for the harm being caused. Yet, all hope is not lost since we are still on the road to 2030 which gives us ample time to rethink and initiate strategies to overcome this westernization. There is an opportunity for indigenous knowledge to have a place in ESD. The focus of indigenous people should not be solely centered on following the dictate of western institutions but rather securing a sustainable future for the unborn generation. This requires indigenous communities to carve a path for themselves with an objective of empowering their citizens to take the appropriate action for a sustainable future. Thus, by looking at the overall object of ESD, indigenous people with their knowledge should break down the overall objectives into specific guidelines that would integrate and make relevant indigenous knowledge as a strategy to ensure a sustainable future. And once indigenous people center their knowledge around spiritualism and Ubuntu, sharing, belonging and participation will resurface as the foundation for indigenous communities to kick out the mindset of personal interest. Finally, we need to trace our steps back to our roots. It’s our roots that bear our foundation of respect for nature and a sense of responsibility towards our environment. With the principles and philosophy of Ubuntu and spirituality, the elderly, experienced women, and other expertise in indigenous knowledge should be involved in the framing of ESD within the context of the indigenous communities. They should be consulted to help in drafting relevant curricula that are based on the problems of indigenous communities and solutions prescribed based on participatory and collaborative approaches as they seek to address economic, social, and environmental issues to ensure a sustainable future. As emphasized by Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, our culture instil in us better morals and encourage us to value truth, compassion, and beauty over money and greed. Our indigenous knowledge will not teach us to work but rather teach us life that will enable us to think and act in ways to sustain our future.

References Amoako, C., & Cobbinah, P. B. (2011). Slum improvement in the Kumasi metropolis, Ghana—A review of approaches and results. Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa, 13(8), 150–170. Asante, K. (2011). Prospects and challenges of small and medium forest enterprises in local development. A case of Sunyani west district in the Brong Ahafo region (Doctoral dissertation, MSc Dissertation. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Ghana). Barnhardt, R. (2008). Creating a place for indigenous knowledge in education: The Alaska native knowledge network. Place-based Education in the Global Age: Local Diversity, 113, 133. Batibo, H. (2009). Transmitting indigenous knowledge through the school curriculum in a diminishing bio-cultural environment: The case of Botswana. In Learning and knowing in indigenous societies today. UNESCO. Battiste, M. (2002). Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy in First Nations education: A literature review with recommendations (pp. 1–69). National Working Group on Education. Cockburn, J. (2015). Local knowledge/lacking knowledge: Contradictions in participatory agroecology development in Bolivia. Anthropologica, 169–183. Cunningham, C. (2010). Health of indigenous peoples. BMJ, 340.

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Dei, D., Osei-Bonsu, R., & Amponsah, S. (2020). A philosophical outlook on Africa’s Higher Education in the twenty-first century: Challenges and prospects. Chapters. Elias, D., Tran, P., Nakashima, D., & Shaw, R. (2009, October). Indigenous knowledge, science and education for sustainable development. Indigenous Knowledge and Disaster Risk Reduction: From Practice to Policy, 87–102. Etchart, L. (2017). The role of indigenous peoples in combating climate change. Palgrave Communications, 3(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1057/palcomms.2017.85 Gade, S. (2013). United States: Indigenous Communities. In Community policing in indigenous communities (pp. 162–171). Routledge. Guthiga, P., & Newsham, A. (2011). Meteorologists meeting rainmakers: Indigenous knowledge and climate policy processes in Kenya. IDS Bulletin, 42(3), 104–109. Gyampoh, B. A., Asante, W. A., La Rose, D. J., Adu-Acheampong, G., Assimeng, T., & Opoku, A. G. (2011). Mapping and documenting indigenous knowledge in climate change adaptation in Ghana. Africa Adaptation Programme Rep. Hens, L. (2006). Indigenous knowledge and biodiversity conservation and management in Ghana. Journal of Human Ecology, 20(1), 21–30. https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2006.11905897 Kanstrup-Jensen, A. (2006). Indigenous education and knowledge-a de-legitimised concept in the education for all strategies. Kothari, A. (2007). Traditional knowledge and sustainable development. International Institute for Sustainable Development, Draft for Discussion, September, Canada, January 2002. http://search.iisd.org/pdf/2007/igsd_traditional_knowledge.pdf, http://www.iisd.org/pdf/ 2007/igsd_traditional_knowledge.pdf Kronik, J., & Verner, D. (2010). Indigenous peoples and climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean. World Bank Publications. Kupika, O. L., Gandiwa, E., Nhamo, G., & Kativu, S. (2019). Local ecological knowledge on climate change and ecosystem-based adaptation strategies promote resilience in the Middle Zambezi Biosphere Reserve, Zimbabwe. Scientifica, 2019. Le Grange, L. (2012). Ubuntu, ukama and the healing of nature, self and society. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 44(sup2), 56–67. Lotz-Sisitka, H., & Lupele, J. (2017). ESD, learning and quality education in Africa: Learning today for tomorrow. In Schooling for sustainable development in Africa (pp. 3–24). Cham: Springer. Magni, G. (2016). Indigenous knowledge and implications for the sustainable development agenda. UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Magni, G. (2017). Indigenous knowledge and implications for the sustainable development agenda. European Journal of Education, 52(4), 437–447. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12238 Mbigi, L. (1997). Ubuntu: The African dream in management. Knowledge Resources. Metz, T. (2014). Just the beginning for ubuntu: Reply to Matolino and Kwindingwi. South African Journal of Philosophy, 33(1), 65–72. Ngubane, N. I., & Makua, M. (2021). Intersection of “Ubuntu” pedagogy and social justice: Transforming South African Higher Education. Transformation in Higher Education, 6, 113. Ofori-Sarpong, E. (2001). Impact of climate change on agriculture and farmers coping strategies in the upper east region of Ghana. West African Journal of Applied Ecology, 2, 21–35. Sandoval-Rivera, J. C. A. (2020). Environmental education and indigenous knowledge: Towards the connection of local wisdom with international agendas in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education, 14(1), 14–24. https://doi. org/10.1080/15595692.2019.1652588 Senanayake, S. G. J. N. (2006). Indigenous knowledge as a key to sustainable development. Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 2(1), 87. https://doi.org/10.4038/jas.v2i1.8117 Stavenhagen, R. (2015). Indigenous peoples’ rights to education. European Journal of Education, 50(3), 254–257. Thakhathi, A., & Netshitangani, T. G. (2020). Ubuntu-as-Unity: Indigenous African proverbs as a ‘re-educating’ tool for embodied social cohesion and sustainable development. African Identities, 18(4), 407–420.

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Thapa, B. (2018). Industry involvement in curriculum development: A case study in Nepal. Industry and Higher Education, 32(3), 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422218765887 Tutu, D. (2000). No future without forgiveness. Image. UN. (United Nations). (2007, september 13). Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples. A/’RES/62/295, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. United Nations. UNESCO. (2016). If you don’t understand, how can you learn? (GEMR Policy Paper. 24). UNESCO UNESCO. (2017). Local knowledge, global goals. Unesco, 25. http://www.unesco.org/new/filead min/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/pdf/ILK_ex_publication_E.pdf UNESCO, U. (2018). Preparing teachers for global citizenship education: A template. Waghid, Y. (2020). Towards an Ubuntu philosophy of higher education in Africa. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 39(3), 299–308. Wals, A. E., & Kieft, G. (2010). Education for sustainable development: Research overview. Zidny, R., Sjöström, J., & Eilks, I. (2020). A multi-perspective reflection on how indigenous knowledge and related ideas can improve science education for sustainability. Science and Education, 29(1), 145–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-019-00100-x

Chapter 7

Responsive Curriculum for Sustainable TVET Colleges in South Africa: Quo Vadis? Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour

and Tabita Ladzeh Akpey-Mensah

Abstract The colonial and apartheid school system and curriculum created a legacy of unemployable job seekers for South Africa. Although the country assumed majority rule over two decades ago the unresponsive school curriculum still haunts the education system. The development of human capital for the country’s socioeconomic development requires a transformation in education and the curriculum, in particular, to shape the lives of the unemployable youth by equipping them with practical skills to contribute to the community and national economic development. In view of South Africa’s political past, post-school education should equip its products with practical skills to create their own jobs in order to reduce unemployment and speed up the socio-economic development of the country. Post-school education institutions, the TVET colleges, in particular, should therefore focus on programmes that equip their students with job oriented skills such as plumbing, welding, automechanic, building, electrical works, computers, engineering, carpentry, fabric design and dressmaking to enable them to contribute to national development. In responding to the current socio-economic imperatives, the post-apartheid government established Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) Colleges throughout the country to equip the youth with practical skills for employment. Despite this noble mandate, it has been observed by many that many graduates from the TVET colleges are still unemployable or are unable to create their own jobs. The chapter, which emanated from a case study on key stakeholders from three colleges, explored the root causes of the problem and the way forward. On the basis of the views articulated by the key stakeholders – industries, students, lecturers and parents- the chapter discusses the kind of curriculum which can indicate exactly where the nation is marching to in terms of addressing the unemployment challenges through the TVET programmes. The chapter advocates for stakeholder participation in designing a more responsive curriculum for TVET Colleges in South Africa. K. P. Quan-Baffour (B) Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Building 10, Sunnyside Campus, Sunnyside, Pretoria, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] T. L. Akpey-Mensah College of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_7

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Keywords Employability · Curriculum · Technical · Vocational education · Development · Skills

1 Introduction This book chapter discusses some ways and means of securing the type of curriculum that can make TVET Colleges in South Africa more relevant and thus contribute to the sustainable development of the country through education. Globally, education is seen by many as the surest way to sustainable development. In other words, education is for development. Mandela (1918–2013) once pointed out eloquently that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Education is both consumer and capital good and as such a relevant education can serve as a catalyst for socio-economic development. The productive capacity of human beings is now vastly larger than all other forms of wealth taken together. This thought of viewing the capacity of humans as knowledge and skills embedded in individuals seems to be gaining currency in today’s world (Beach, 2009). The knowledge, skills, abilities and the right attitude which individuals gain from education and training can be a great impetus for development in the contemporary world of the knowledge economy. Contrary to this fact, during the apartheid era, education was used to underdevelop the indigenes in South Africa. The inferior type of education designed for the ‘natives’ [black South Africans] by the apartheid white minority regime has created a legacy of unemployable economically active black citizens for the country. Although the country achieved democracy nearly three decades ago, the unresponsive school curriculum of the apartheid era has not been fully transformed. Magesa (1997, p. 9) aptly attests that “the problems and solutions of today have to be envisaged within a historical framework, an indigenous historical framework, no matter what contribution an external world may have made”. In affirming how the apartheid regime harmed the nation, Soudien and Baxen (1997) report that; During apartheid, education was used not only to achieve social separation but in so far as it was built around a social philosophy, it was also the legitimating arena for white supremacy and the complex ordering that evolved around it.

Apart from what was taught to black children their schools experienced a paucity of both human and material resources. They were not only underfunded but also lacked qualified teachers. The historical disadvantages of the formerly black schools were caused by the previous government, which spent less money on them. These same communities did not have sufficient money to contribute to improving education standards in their schools (Heystek & Paquette, 1999). As Rodney (2009) succinctly puts it; “the main purpose of the colonial school was to train Africans to help man the local administration at the lowest ranks and the capitalist firms owned by Europeans”. The failures in the existing curriculum vis-à-vis the socio-economic realities of contemporary South Africa and democratization necessitate the crucial need for transformation in education for the achievement of sustainable development for individuals, communities and the nation at large. Transformational education, in the

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views of Shri Uday and Pandya (2016), involves goals that go beyond the transmission of content and skills. Its expansive goal is to generate reflective, self-critical and selfmotivated students who are proficient in criticizing and directing independent work open-mindedly and have powerfully developed higher order thinking skills in interpretation, analysis and communication. In other words, education that is development oriented should be transformative in order to open the door for the development of problem-solving skills and expand the views of students and teachers alike, leading to greater self-awareness, deeper compassion for others and a commitment to produce a change in self and the world (Shri Uday & Pandya, 2016). The relevance of education in the contemporary world, therefore, is to ensure quality of life for all citizens. This thought is aligned to the sustainable development goals (SDGs); a universal call to action against poverty, protection of the environment and to ensure peace and prosperity among people by 2030 (UN, 2017). The realization of the above goals lies in the promotion of relevant education at all levels to empower people to change all undesirable conditions in their midst. Transformation education and for that matter pedagogy requires educators to rethink curriculum diversification through multiple teaching and assessment approaches. While it is imperative to engage well qualified and formal educators in the TVET institutions, community members with expertise in practical subjects such as carpentry, sculpturing, building sewing and plumbing can be hired on a part-time basis to offer practical training to students in specific trades. Donald et al (2012) affirm that educational context can be a formal school classroom, apprenticeships or internships or informal, situations such as learning from a respected elder. The authors of this book chapter argue that whether formal or informal instruction should be based on the principle that the learner should be able to react meaningfully to the teacher’s stimuli so that effective learning can take place (Rahman et al., 2011). Teaching and learning are measured through assessment. Assessment should not be done haphazardly; it must be planned in such a way that it covers both theory and practice where a variety of approaches are employed to gauge out the competencies of learners and the effectiveness of instruction. Quan-Baffour (2019) asserts that to assess learners holistically educators must use different methods to move away from the traditional pencil and paper assessment to situations where learners are afforded the opportunities to demonstrate learning through a variety of ways. Holistic assessment can make learners creative or think outside the box to demonstrate multiple ways of knowing. The traditional mode of assessment which emphasizes theory or recall is not only stressful but might not measure much of what the learner knows because of its narrowness in scope. Adequate and effective teaching in line with transformative pedagogy must therefore precede holistic assessment before teaching and learning can be ascribed to development education, i.e. education that leads to development in all human endeavours. Bourn (2014) reports that the concept of Development Education, emerged in Europe in the 1970s to create awareness, support and understanding of international development through relevant education. In elucidating the concept further, the Irish Aid (2006) describes development education as an educational process that increases

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awareness and understanding of a rapidly changing, interdependent and unequal world. Development education has therefore become indispensable to the improvement of the socio-economic lives of citizens in the contemporary world; the very essence of the Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN in 2015. The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as envisaged by the United Nations (2015), requires the provision of relevant and quality education to improve the wellbeing of people. The SDGs are a collection of 17 interlinked Global Goals designed to serve as a blueprint for the achievement of a better and more sustainable future for all countries and their citizens. To achieve a better and sustainable future would depend on how nations use education as a tool to develop their citizens. Outhred (2018) attests that one of the chief mechanisms proposed to address the wicked problem of implementing sustainable development is through sustainable education. The nexus between education and other development outcomes has been widely acknowledged in the contemporary world. In this regard, these authors argue that it is only relevant education that can speed up the development of people, their communities and countries as education creates the human capital base for every nation. The mass of unemployable youth in South Africa can contribute to national economic development if they are equipped with Quality Education. Eldin (2011) for example describes the concept ‘Quality’ as features of products directed towards the needs of customers and for them to achieve satisfaction. The World Education Forum (2015) identified quality education as one of the key mechanisms to end poverty, improve nutrition, move towards sustainable forms of agriculture and protect the earth’s natural resources for the future generation. In contributing to this debate, UNICEF (2000) describes quality education as the one with content that is reflected in relevant curricula and materials for the acquisition of basic skills, especially in the areas of literacy and skills for life, and in knowledge in such areas of gender, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention and peace. What constitutes quality education should consider national goals for education, national and local values and possibilities of incorporating local knowledge into traditional subject areas (UNICEF, 2000). Quality education in the context of this chapter is, therefore, the kind of education that can equip the unemployed (both school graduates and dropouts) with employable technical skills such as plumbing, welding, auto-mechanic, building, painting, electrical works, clothing, carpentry, design and technology, accounting, computers skills and modern farming techniques. Quality education is the kind of education that fits for purpose or does what is expected of education in contemporary society. It is education that brings tangible development to individuals and their communities. The World Education Forum (WEF, 2015) suggests that within the next generation of the development goals, the education-related SDGs should enable learners to acquire knowledge and skills needed to promote human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and culture’s contribution to sustainable development. Thus, in today’s world, quality education should be an effective tool to empower individuals with productive skills to help combat marginalisation, poverty and crime in a

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developing country like South Africa. In short, quality education is education that is development oriented. Outhred (2018) reports that the Darkar Framework for Action was the first international agreement declaring that access to quality education was the right of every child. The framework however expanded the definition of quality to cover a set of desirable characteristics of learners, learning processes, content and systems (EFA, 2015). The apartheid regime used education to advance its agenda of racial discrimination and to advance white supremacy hence education was exclusive; with the oppressive and inferior type given to blacks. The education for blacks was meant to subject them to servitude (Christie & Collins, 1984). This was in contravention with social justice i.e. the treatment of people with due fairness. Abel (2014, p. 467) affirms that social justice is the moral foundation of good governance. It entails the reciprocal rights and duties of social groups and their members in relation to the common good. This situation created by the apartheid regime in line with democratic practices needed to change. The preamble of the South African Schools’; Act (SASA, 1996) clearly warned that the achievement of democracy in South Africa has consigned to history the past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation. In keeping with this constitutional provision and perhaps Nelson Mandela’s (1918–2013) views that education is the most powerful weapon which can be used to change the world, the post-apartheid government established the Technical, Vocational, Education and Training (TVET) Colleges throughout the country as part of the Post-School Education and Training [PSET] system (DHET, 2013). The Post-School Education and Training programmes are to redress the past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities in South Africa (DHET, 2013). As noted by UNESCO (2005), counter-hegemonic strategies seek to work with disadvantaged groups to reorganize the curriculum in ways that give priority to the perspectives of the ‘other’. Connell (1993) adds that a reorganized curriculum gives disadvantaged students systematic access to programmes that will equip them with economic and political understanding so that they can act individually or together to improve their circumstances. The statistics on Post School Education and Training (2021, p. 31) states that; The vision and objective for the public TVET Colleges sector as articulated in the national Post-School Education and Training [PSET] plan are an expanded and strengthened TVET sub-system that provides quality technical and vocational education and training to prepare students for the world of work (i.e. formal employment; and other forms of work)

The assumption of this chapter, however, is that some of the TVET graduates might still not find or be able to create their own jobs because the curriculum of some of the colleges does not cover much of the knowledge and skills the country desperately needs for economic growth and social transformation. Barron (2018) reports the CEO of the National Skills Fund, Mvuyisi Macikama, as saying, “South Africa is short of artisans and this is hampering the rollout of the government’s infrastructure development programmes”. This affirms the fact that the TVET system is bedevilled with challenges. There might be a lack of adequate consultations with the major stakeholders (e.g. schools, students, parents, industries and the communities in which

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the colleges are located) before some of the Colleges designed curriculum for their study programmes. The thesis of this chapter is that for the colleges to produce the kind of people needed on the current South African job market there must be some consultation or partnership with the key stakeholders of the colleges such as the schools, communities, students, parents, industries, firms and the labour market in order to secure a responsive curriculum. The chapter discusses the kind of curriculum which may be more responsive to the current socio-economic needs of the country based on the views articulated by fifty randomly selected key stakeholders made of prospective employers, students, teachers, parents and other community members in three rural Provinces where some of the colleges are located. The objectives of the chapter are to: • advocate for stakeholder participation in designing tailor-made curriculum for the technical, vocational education and training colleges to ensure patronage and achievement of national goals. • Justify the importance of stakeholder participation among the key stakeholders such as students, parents, communities, prospective employers and the colleges to ensure the diversification of learning programmes for the sustainability of the TVET colleges.

2 The Context and Motivation for the Chapter In the contemporary world, people attend school or college to acquire relevant knowledge and skills for living and to contribute to the socio-economic development and growth of their respective countries. The learning experiences in any institution of learning are driven by a curriculum or programme of activities. The concept, curriculum, is defined by many scholars in different ways but in this book chapter suffice it to be described as a collective discourse that encompasses subject content, knowledge, skills and values. As the vehicle that transports education, the curriculum should cover all learning experiences considered necessary to be taught to learners to enable them to achieve their learning goals (Quan-Baffour, 2007). It is the whole body of courses offered in an educational institution (Tamakloe, 1992) and in its broader sense, the curriculum may be described as all the planned teaching and learning activities for which an educational institution is responsible. The authors of this chapter posit that curriculum spells out the knowledge, skills and values a particular community or nation deems socially, economically and politically useful for its development. In a deliberate attempt to stifle the development of the ‘natives’, the apartheid government designed a very poor school curriculum for black schools and this has contributed greatly to millions of unemployable black citizens in South Africa. The need to change this appalling situation became paramount in the postapartheid discourse and policies. For example, the preamble of the South African Schools’ Act (1996, p. 1) states it thus; “the achievement of democracy has consigned to history the past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation”. The curriculum of educational institutions in post-apartheid South Africa,

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therefore, needs to be transformed as a redress of the past injustices in education provision and to make education a strong foundation for the development of all South Africans (SASA, 1996). Unlike during the apartheid era, education is now a right and it should provide all citizens with equal opportunities and access to the labour market. Since what touches all must be deliberated by all, the major stakeholders in education must be involved in the design and implementation of the kind of curriculum that can speed up development through education. Doll (2006) adds that curriculum encompasses the formal and informal context and the process by which learners gain knowledge, develop skills and alter attitudes, appreciations and values under the auspices of an educational institution. Since the needs of societies keep changing the curriculum that drives education needs to change in order to address the current socio-economic and political problems of society. The curriculum should not be narrowly defined in terms of the body of knowledge of a discipline and subject content because it is shaped by contextual imperatives such as learners’ community and national needs, values and educational policies of a particular country. These contextual imperatives are what determine the selection of content and modalities for curriculum responsiveness. A narrow content driven curriculum perspective cannot be responsive to the current social, economic, technological and political needs of any developing nation. It is therefore argued in this chapter that to realise a responsive curriculum for TVET Colleges in South Africa all stakeholders must be involved in its design. The curriculum designed by the colonial administrators, cannot serve the socialeconomics needs of society today because it was based on parochial agenda. As Quan-Baffour (2018) attests, in their hidden agenda, both the missionaries and the colonial administrators needed interpreters to spread the gospel and to entrench colonial rule. The introduction of Western education in the colonies was therefore not to assist the ‘natives’ to raise their standard of living as such but to train and use them to achieve their economic interests. In South Africa, like many Sub- Sahara African countries, the colonizers envisaged very little education for the indigenes as a strategy to produce or obtain cheap labour e.g. housemaids, garden boys, messengers, interpreters, farm and factory hands or mine workers. In pursuing this parochial agenda, the ‘natives’ were denied better education which could make them compete equally with the children of the colonizers for better jobs with better pay and better conditions of service. The agenda of the colonizers and the apartheid regime in South Africa was clear; they never hid their educational plans for the ‘natives’. Christie and Collins (1984) report a prominent apartheid politician as saying; We should so conduct our schools that the native who attends those schools will know that to a great extent he must be the labourer in the country.

In combing through the colonial archives, Rodney (2009) concludes that it is not uncommon to encounter remarks such as, What need is there to educate the natives? You will give them the weapon to destroy you.

This agenda to provide the ‘natives’ with inferior education made the authorities at the time design the type of curriculum which would enable them to achieve their aims

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of education for the ‘colonized’ during the era of colonialism and apartheid. Their aim of education was to turn out, in their droves, unskilled school graduates to be used as the source of cheap labour. This narrow view of the curriculum is what has created a legacy of unemployable economically active black citizens in Africa in general and South Africa in particular. Although South Africa became a free country nearly three decades ago, the poor school curriculum has not been adequately transformed. Reporting Fitch’s Rating of South Africa, Zwane (2021) affirms that the country’s poor education system reflects the historical legacies arising from apartheid… The high levels of youth unemployment would continue to post risks to stability and real GDP growth in the long term. Many black school graduates are unemployable because schools did not equip them with the knowledge and skills for employment or job creation. In a context where apartheid policies disadvantaged the majority of the citizens, the type of education that equips its products with practical skills is what can speed up the country’s development. Poortman et al. (2011) posit that to prepare future workers adequately for continuously changing circumstances in society in general and work in particular, initial vocational education and training should not only focus on competence development for the job in the near future. Learning how to combine work and learning is also essential. Workplace learning is therefore important for those who attend vocational education programmes to put theory into practice. The new democratic government established Technical, Vocational, Education and Training Colleges for both school learners and the out of school unemployed youth (DHET, 2013) to equip them with practical skills for job creation. The TVET programmes have a work-integrated learning (WIL) component which comprises 18 months for Business /General Studies and 24 months for engineering respectively. All the TVET programmes start from a certificate and culminate in a Diploma depending on the individual student’s aptitude and needs (Statistics on PSET, 2021). For those who do not meet admission requirements, the colleges provide a preliminary vocational learning programme (PLP) which is a foundational learning programme to prepare students for access to the specific vocational or occupational pathway at the TVET colleges (p. 31). The assumption of the authors of this chapter is that the top down approach might have been employed in designing and implementing the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) curriculum in South Africa. There might have been little or no consultation with major stakeholders such as the industries, firms, prospective employers, schools, students, parents, educators, communities or relevant non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the design and implementation of the (curriculum) learning activities for the technical, vocational, education and training colleges. This apparent lack of adequate consultations with the major stakeholders indicates that the learning experiences spelt out by some of the Technical Vocational Education and Training Colleges might not be responsive to the socio-economic needs of the students, their communities and the country at large. In a situation where the study programmes might not be popular with prospective students, enrolment at TVET Colleges could be low as naturally, people may

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not patronise courses that cannot equip them with skills for employment. Acknowledging the importance of curriculum and quality assurance in the TVET sector, the department of higher education (2013) concedes that; the mix of qualifications in the TVET Colleges is complex to administer; difficult for learners and parents to understand and often poorly assured. In this regard the ‘the entire gamut of vocational education programmes and qualifications would have to be reviewed and rationalised into a coherent and simple framework that fits easily into the National Qualifications Framework to make learning pathways clear to learners and employers’. (DHET, p. 34)

This acknowledgement from the Department of Higher Education underscores the fact that to make technical education and training programmes attractive, it is crucial to secure a curriculum that would be more responsive to the socio-economic needs and aspirations of all prospective students, communities and the labour market [firms and industries]. Thus stakeholder consultation and the establishment of relevant partnerships need to be put in place in the various communities to ensure that the programmes of the colleges meet the needs of students, communities and the labour market. In that way what is taught and learnt in the colleges could be patronised by a lot of the unemployed. In other words, students are likely to patronise the learning experiences that could lead to employment or opportunities for selfemployment and development. Without this democratic and—inclusive approach to the design and implementation of college programmes, the achievement of the aims and objectives of technical vocational education and training might remain a mere dream.

3 Theoretical Framework In view of the emphasis on the need for consultation and partnerships in designing a responsive curriculum for TVET colleges, this chapter is underpinned by the stakeholder participation theory which was propounded by Edward Freeman (Quezeda, 2012). The theory posits that any individual or group of people who have a stake or interest in a business or organization are its stakeholders. Freeman (1984) describes the concept of stakeholder as any individual or group which affects or is affected by an organization. In simple terms, stakeholders are the individuals or groups of people who have the power to directly impact the future of any organisation. They are those groups or individuals without whose support an organization would cease to exist (Freeman, 1984). These may include employers, employees, shareholders, clients, suppliers, communities and state departments. As individuals or groups of people with a vested interest in an organization, they play a major role in maximizing the organisation’s potential through their active involvement in its day to day activities. Stakeholders have a say in the management of an organization. Phillips (2003) attests that organizations are dependent on their stakeholders for their successes or failures. The theory is a relevant framework for discussing organization or business ethics. From an organizational management perspective, stakeholders can be classified into two- primary and secondary.

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The actors at the coal face of production in an organization are referred to as the primary stakeholders while those in its broader environment such as clients or suppliers are its secondary stakeholders. All stakeholders of any business, institution or organisation have a common goal i.e. the success and achievement of the goals of the particular organisation; which is why the management of any organization or institution must ensure that the interest of stakeholders is its dominant concern. The Stakeholder theory is all about how a business or an institution really works; because for any institution or organisation to succeed, it has to create value for its customers, employees, communities and shareholders. The theory is an approach to organizational management and governance that emphasizes the importance of considering organizational stakeholders when making leadership decisions (Freeman, 2009). It is a theory that focuses on organizational or institutional management and business ethics that addresses morals and values in managing an institution, business or organization. Lewis (2006) for example, points out that moral stakeholders are the individuals who are affected by the organisation. These are individuals or groups who should be consulted on regular basis for their inputs to ensure the success of the organisation. In short, the stakeholder theory attempts to address the principle of what or who counts (Mansell, 2013) in any all organisation or institution. The theory was initially utilised by business organisations for profit-making, but with the changes taking place in the contemporary world, organisations or institutions are increasingly being called upon by stakeholders for their interests to be taken into account (Lewis, 2006). This new move is in the organisation’s own interest to ensure its long term sustainability. The view of the stakeholder is now wider than the narrow views of earlier economists who only looked at the [bottom line], profit. The theory has implications for designing a responsive and sustainable curriculum for TVET courses and programmes because of its unique contribution to decisionmaking processes regarding courses offered by the colleges. It descriptively indicates that managers who wish to maximise their organisations or institutions’ potential may have to take the broader interest of all stakeholders into account. The theory encourages the authorities of TVET colleges in South Africa to involve all people, groups and communities who have a stake in the teaching and learning activities of the colleges. The onus is therefore on the TVET Colleges to identify their major stakeholders and consult them on regular basis for their inputs to ensure patronage of their programmes. Quezada (2012) opines that an important aspect that influences stakeholder identification is the manner in which the analysis is shaped by an organisation’s approach to social responsibility; which requires that all stakeholders are placed at the centre of any institution’s management practices. Thus, in organizing and designing a more responsive and sustainable curriculum for TVET colleges it is imperative that the institutions involve all the major stakeholders such as schools, students, parents, community members, education officials, industries and prospective employers because their involvement can ensure collaborative advantage at all levels of implementation of the programmes. Through genuine collaboration, the sense of ownership, commitment and patronage can be created and secured among the major role players for the success and achievement of a responsive curriculum (courses and programmes) which can lead to the socio-economic development of

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individuals, their communities and the country at large. The consultation and involvement of the major stakeholders could make TVET college courses and programmes more inclusive and avoid the notion of a top down approach which is undemocratic and can lead to apathy and lack of patronage. For vocational education and training college, specifically, the stakeholders may include employment-system actors and the relationships among them are the keys to success (Caves, 2019). The learning in TVET institutions comprises theory and practice and as Poortman et al. (2011) agree, that learning is the result of a process that takes place in three dimensions- interaction [social], incentive[emotional] and content [cognitive]. These three dimensions, no doubt, assist the TVET students to experience and own what they learn in both theory and practice. Practical learning (work-integrated learning) is done outside the colleges and this requires a partnership between them and the WIL institutions. The stakeholder theory may be criticised by those who have the perception that some powerful, influential and extrovert stakeholders can dominate discussions, leaving the less knowledgeable and the shy at the mercy of the influential people. A situation of that nature may limit the merits of true participation or consultation. However, there should be ways or mechanisms to minimise this possible challenge.

4 Stakeholder Consultations to Secure Responsive Curriculum For TVET Colleges Consultation is based on the African adage that ‘what touches all must be deliberated by all’. This act of consulting and involving the key stakeholders to secure an inclusive, responsive and sustainable curriculum for the TVET Colleges also affirms the saying that ‘it takes a whole village to bring up a child’. A TVET College alone cannot produce the kind of people needed to function optimally in today’s knowledge economy of South Africa. More so education is everyone’s business hence the key stakeholders in the TVET sector must be identified and consulted for their input in order to secure an acceptable, responsive and sustainable curriculum for the colleges. The mandate of the South African Schools’ Act (SASA, 1996) is that institutions, parents and community members must constitute equal partners in education to ensure that quality education is provided to children and youth of the country. The preamble of the South African Schools’ Act (SASA, 1996, Sect. 84) inter alia,’ the achievement of democracy in South Africa has consigned to history the past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation.

Here in lies the justification for stakeholder consultation in education matters. Thus if the country wants quality and equity in education then it should involve all key stakeholders in education matters. The ACT (SASA, 1996) is a dynamic democratic revolution in education which cancels the constraints hitherto imposed by the apartheid regime on the governance of education in South Africa. The stakeholder consultation in the context of this chapter seeks to promote the involvement

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of disadvantaged people and communities in curriculum planning and implementation. In achieving stakeholder participation, the colleges can arrange community meetings (what the Batswana refer to as lekgotla) to discuss with community members, parents, educators and students to find out what they want to learn at the TVET colleges. The involvement of the major stakeholders on what should be taught and learnt in the colleges is therefore crucial to the sustainability of the TVET Colleges. To ensure commitment, patronage and employability of the college graduates in line with education for development, local schools, teachers, parents, industries, firms and non-governmental organisations must be consulted and must be involved in designing programmes and courses for the colleges. The authors argue that a true stakeholder consultation and participation can increase transparency, coresponsibility and accountability among all people who have a stake in the TVET Colleges i.e. communities, industries, government, students and parents. The local economic development of a rural community in which a TVET College is situated may not be the same as those of urban areas. In this regard, the learning experiences that can equip students with employable skills may differ from area to area or province to province. It is for this reason that the TVET Colleges should engage in consultations and form of partnership with local major stakeholders in order to secure the kind of curriculum that may be responsive to both local and national socio-economic needs and interests. Quan-Baffour (2007) points out that the complexities of modern society make it imperative for communities (including parents and guardians) to team up with educational institutions in order to offer the African child relevant education that can lead to the development of individuals, communities and countries. There are some unemployed youth who may not like to enrol for TVET programmes because of the perception that the learning experiences may not assist them to become employable or equip them with relevant knowledge and skills for job creation. Consultations with the local youth organisations, communities, schools, department of labour and education, local industries and NGOs is, therefore, necessary to get the consensus of the key stakeholders to ensure that both the learning needs and economic realities are catered for by the college programmes. As Clarke (2009) affirms, effective teamwork is a key ingredient for success in most organisations. Quan-Baffour (2012) adds that participation is the extent to which stakeholders share the total responsibilities for the achievement of educational goals. The involvement of major stakeholders in TVET College matters can ensure co-responsibility and accountability among interest groups such as students, parents, communities, NGOs, industries, the colleges and the relevant government departments. The common feature of the contemporary world is a constant and drastic change. Change is being experienced in all aspects of life and educational practices or curriculum is no exception. Thus any country that wants the kind of education that can bring development to its people and their communities would need to transform its curriculum in line with contemporary realities. However, people fear the unknown and may often like to deny that change is unstoppable in today’s world. As Toffler (1990) eloquently asserts, the disturbing fact is that the vast majority of people including educated and otherwise sophisticated people find the idea of change so threatening that they attempt to deny its existence. To survive or to avert what

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we termed future shock, the individual must become infinitely more adaptable and capable than ever before (Toffler, p. 41). The aims of education, its objectives, content, pedagogy and programmes are no more static but fluid and subject to transformation and constant change; the direct consequence of democracy (Quan-Baffour, 2012). In education, lots of changes have and are still taking place where, as the consequence of democratization, globalization and technology new careers have emerged which warrant the introduction of new learning areas in the curriculum. In the context of changes brought about by democratization, it is important for the TVET colleges to establish partnerships with their key stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of programmes and the achievement of individual, community and national development goals through education. Quan-Baffour (2012) affirms that educational transformation is democracy and to develop education for democracy we must develop democratic education to teach about democracy. It is assumed that collaboration would enable all the major stakeholders to contribute to the realization of quality education provided by the TVET colleges.

5 Research Methodology This chapter emanated from a phenomenological study which explored the views of key stakeholders on how to achieve a sustainable and responsive curriculum for TVET colleges in South Africa. The qualitative method of interviews was employed to gather views (Creswell, 2009) of fifty purposively selected stakeholders on the design of an all-inclusive and responsive curriculum for TVET courses and programmes. The qualitative method in the form of a phenomenological approach assisted the researchers to describe the context and intricacies of (Johnson & Christensen, 2000) curriculum design within the colleges. In line with the interpretive paradigm, the views of major stakeholders of TVET Colleges were obtained through dialogue i. e. interviews. The unstructured, one on one interviews involved the 50 purposively selected key stakeholders i.e. teachers, students, parents, community members, prospective employers, NGOs, college lecturers and education officials. The above participants were considered information-rich by the authors because they were either client or involved in the activities of the colleges. The informal interviews focused on the following: • Expectations from TVET Colleges. • Instructional activities of TVET Colleges. • Extent of stakeholder participation.

6 Discussion The discussion presented in this chapter is based on the interviews which transpired between the researchers and the selected stakeholders of the TVET Colleges. The

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researchers pruned the data, broke them into smaller units and arranged each unit under a specific theme before analysing and discussing them. The chapter stresses that the TVET Colleges are located in various communities and funded by the government to equip the unemployed economically active citizens with employable skills. The Colleges were given the mandate to provide vocational training that prepares people to participate in both the formal and the informal economy (DHET, 2015). To fulfill this mandate the colleges should collaborate with stakeholders in order to offer courses that can meet the learning needs of the unemployed in the communities in which they are located. Thus from the African perspective development education should equip the unemployed youth with practical skills to enable them to play a role in the social, economic and political advancement of their respective communities, the country and today’s global community.

6.1 Expectations from the Community Colleges Unemployment among the economically active, particularly the youth, is very high in South Africa and this, in part, accounts for the high incidents of crime in the country. In view of this situation, the public, communities, students, parents, prospective employers and the country at large have high expectations of the TVET Colleges. They expect the colleges to equip the youth with practical knowledge and skills to make them employable or create their own jobs. All the participants (100%) in the study agreed in their responses that they expect the TVET colleges to equip the unemployed youth with creative skills in order to make them job creators rather than job seekers. As it echoed from the interview responses, ‘quality TVET programmes and courses should make the college graduates socially and economically useful to themselves, their communities and the country at large. The general consensus of the participants was that when the unemployed are equipped with practical job skills crime may reduce in the communities because they can be engaged in productive jobs. As Clinton, the former U S President (2002) remarked; …..particularly in the developing world, young people are in desperate need of productive employment. They want and deserve opportunities to contribute to their communities and develop their skills. I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work. Work organises life. It gives structure and discipline to life.

Indeed, the government established the TVET Colleges as a redress to cater for the marginalised, the poor and the educationally disadvantaged citizens (DHET, 2013) by equipping them with practical job skills for a productive life. The participants were of the view that when the unemployed are equipped with relevant knowledge and skills they can find jobs or create their own and this can reduce the violent crime in the country. The participants, therefore, expect the TVET colleges to deliver on their mandate by equipping the unemployed youth with skills for work. Productive work can improve the socio-economic conditions of individuals, families, communities,

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reduce crime and to improve the country’s economic growth. It may also lead to social cohesion in the communities and the country at large. Skills acquisition through quality TVET programmes may fulfill the dreams of the unemployed youth and the ideals of development educationists who advocate for the kind of education that makes people productive and enable them to contribute to the community and national development.

6.2 Instructional and Learning Activities of the TVET Colleges The colleges are located in various communities (rural, peri-urban and urban) in the country to make skills development accessible to those who might need them for job creation. As stated by the DHET (2015, p. 15), “access to education and training must be available through viable institutions to the employed and unemployed, young and old, to encourage an economically active population and community participation”. The observations of the stakeholders who participated in the study are that the courses offered by the TVET Colleges are limited and as such do not provide students with many study options. It is crucial therefore for the colleges to engage their stakeholders to transform their curriculum by expanding their course offerings. A number of participants including students and parents indicated that the TVET Colleges in their rural communities do not have the infrastructure and other resources to teach many of the job oriented courses such as plumbing, carpentry, building, fitting, electrical and leather works. The colleges’ lack of resources might discourage the unemployed from enrolling on their programmes as the limited offerings may not serve their learning needs. An overwhelming majority of the stakeholders who participated in the interviews (45 out of 50) expressed concerns about the quality some of the college Lecturers. As it echoed from the various responses, the Colleges did not have qualified Lecturers to teach many of the practical skills that can enhance job creation hence they only offer courses they can teach. This sad reality may not benefit most students and prospective employers and might contribute to low patronage for TVET courses in many rural communities. In Barron’s (2018, p. 8) observation, most of the colleges are ‘just glorified schools’. This observation emanates from the challenges faced by the colleges e.g. lack of qualified educators to teach the most needed skills and workshops to demonstrate practical learning. While students, parents, communities, prospective employers and the country at large need artisans- plumbers, masons, electricians, accountants etc. some of the colleges are unable to offer these important courses on account of a lack of qualified Lecturers in those fields, infrastructure and other teaching and learning resources. It was also learnt from the responses from the participants that in most rural areas courses in hospitality, fashion design and sewing of clothes, photography and video could be important to the rural tourism industry but these courses are hardly offered

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by some of the colleges in the countryside. As the student participants pointed out to the researchers, ‘some of the Colleges list courses in their brochures but such courses are not currently offered’. These might be some of the reasons why many matriculants and school dropouts do not like to attend TVET colleges. They may not like to enroll on programmes indicated on the curriculum but are not offered by the college or might not equip them with the kind of skills they need for employment. The unemployed (youths and adults) enroll on learning programmes to address their immediate socioeconomic needs and may not waste their precious time on courses which may not serve their interests. The lack of various job oriented courses is counterproductive to development education because that can lead to education for frustration where a person could complete college but might lack skills for employment or job creation. The situation in some of the Colleges, as observed by the participants, point to the fact that the aim of DHET (2015) to provide the unemployed with good quality formal and non-formal education and training is yet to be realized.

6.3 Extent of Stakeholder Participation in TVET Curriculum Design The TVET Colleges were established to provide critical manpower needs for the country’s economic growth and also to reduce unemployment among the economically active citizens (DHET, 2013). With youth unemployment around 30% in the country (Zwane, 2021) the TVET colleges have an important role to play in equipping the youth with employable skills such as plumbing, building, construction, electrical works, welding, leather works, hospitality management etc. The participants, made up of community members, students, parents and representatives of industries revealed to the researchers that although the colleges are sited in their communities there is no or very little stakeholder consultation and participation in educational matters such as the design of curriculum for courses and programmes to be offered. The DHET White Paper on post-school education (2013, p. 6) recognizes the importance of partnerships between the colleges and stakeholders, particularly community members and employers. It calls for collaboration between the colleges and schools, students, parents, NGOs and industries (prospective employers). The participants agreed in their responses that in spite of this policy requirement, there is no official invitation from the colleges in their areas to discuss what should be taught and learnt at the TVET colleges. The views of the participants indicate that many of the colleges in the rural areas seem to use the top-down approach in deciding on learning experiences without consulting the communities in which they are located. By keeping the major stakeholders out of decision making regarding courses and programmes, the Colleges risk losing patronage and thus becoming unsustainable. The participants corroborated in their responses that they would like to see an annual meeting involving all the major stakeholders to deliberate on issues that can assist the colleges to provide the kind of knowledge and skills that can speed up

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socio-economic development in the local communities. This finding is crucial for the sustainability of the colleges. For instance, if the colleges are to attract more students to their programmes they should consult and collaborate with the major stakeholders who can discuss with them the programmes and courses that fit for purpose or suit their socio-economic needs. From a development education perspective, teaching should bring about positive change in the learner to enable them to acquire relevant knowledge and skills which can make them active local and global players in the contemporary knowledge economy. As Whitehead (1970, p. 1) appropriately remarks, “a merely well-informed person is the most useless bore on God’s earth”. The study also revealed that the TVET Colleges should equip the unemployed youth with practical skills for job creation—the essence of development education. The stakeholders of the TVET Colleges would like to see a broader curriculum which includes career-oriented courses such as computer studies, small business enterprises, accounting, hospitality, tourism management, building, mechanic (fitting), electrical works, leather works, plumbing and sewing. As the participants pointed out, these are practical courses most needed to secure employment or create one’s own job in South Africa today. Barron (2018, p. 8) reports that the National Skills Fund plans to turn the country’s TVET colleges, most of which are just glorified schools, into institutions that offer “occupationally directed programmes”. Baron’s statement might be based on his observation of the poor curriculum of some of the TVET Colleges and to turn the situation around, the colleges need to involve major stakeholders in realizing an inclusive, sustainable and responsive curriculum. Quan-Baffour (2007) opines that a sustainable and quality education that seeks to bring development to people must be driven by a curriculum that covers all learning experiences considered necessary to be taught to students to enable them to achieve their learning goals. This is the essence of development education—the creation of global citizens who are capable of promoting change.

7 Conclusion This chapter focused on securing an all-inclusive curriculum for TVET Colleges in rural South Africa to ensure the realization of education that brings development to its products. As noted by Bourn (2014) development education emerged in the 1970s to raise public awareness and understanding and support for development through the provision of relevant education. Relevant and quality education can only be realized through the input of all major stakeholders. The findings from the exploratory investigation underscore the importance of stakeholder participation and collaborations in the achievement of the TVET mandate and goals. That is, to equip the unemployed and out of school youth with employable skills (DHET, 2013). The colleges cannot continue to use top-down approaches to design learning programmes for students as that may hinder their sustainability and development of the country. Apart from not delivering on their mandate, they may also lose patronage; something that

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can lead to their extinction. The chapter concludes that the country’s current socioeconomic situation, demands that the TVET Colleges collaborate with all the major stakeholders—students, schools, communities, industries, NGOs, and the general public—and march together towards securing an all-inclusive, more responsive and sustainable curriculum for the TVET Colleges. The sustained improvement in the quality of life of all citizens, as suggested by the UN (2015) sustainable development goals, depends on the collaborative efforts of all major stakeholders in education. Without partnership and stakeholder participation the TVET colleges cannot deliver on their mandate or become sustainable and in the words of Barron (2018) may remain ‘glorified high schools’.

8 Recommendations In view of the importance of equipping the unemployed youth with relevant knowledge and skills for employment, the chapter makes the following recommendations to the TVET Colleges: They should • consult and collaborate with the major stakeholders -prospective students and employers, schools, parents and communities- in order to design courses to suit the needs of their clients to enable them to remain relevant and sustainable. • see communities as their partners in the provision of technical and vocational education. • market their courses through career exhibitions in schools and communities in which they are located. This may make people understand their mandate and programmes. • expand their curriculum and employ qualified educators to teach the most sought after skills—engineering, plumbing, building, electrical works, accounting, clothing, hospitality etc.

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Quan-Baffour, K. P. (2019). Innovative assessment practices in adult basic education: The Kha Ri Gude programme in South Africa. In A. Arko, K. P. Quan-Baffour & D. Addae (Eds.), Adult continuing and lifelong education and development in Africa. Nova Science Publishers. Quezada, R. G. (2012). Pluralist university government. An analysis proposal based on stakeholder theory. Oxford University Press. Rahman, F., Khali, J. K., Jumani, N. B., Ajmal, M., Malik, S., & Sharif, M. (2011). Impact of discussion method on students’ performance. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2(7), 84–94. Republic of South Africa. (1996). The South African Schools’ Act (Act 84 of 1996). Government Printers, Pretoria. Rodney, W. (2009). How Europe underdeveloped Africa. PANAF Publishing. Shri Uday, M., & Pandya, S. R. (2016). Edu Inspire—An International E-Journal, 3(2), 1–21. Soudien, C., & Baxen, J. (1997). Transformation and outcomes-based education in South Africa: Opportunities and challenges. The Journal of Negro Education, 66(4), 449–459. Statistics on Post-School Education and Training in South Africa. (2021). Department of Higher Education. Tamakloe, E. K. (1992). Curriculum evaluation, implementation and innovation. In Abosi BCC & J. Brookman-Amissah (Eds.), Introduction to education in Ghana. Sedco Publishing Ltd. Toffler, A. (1990). Future shock. Pan Books Ltd. UN. (2017). REHOPE strategic framework. Kampala. Available at https://reliefweb.int/report/uga nda/rehoperefugee-and-host-population-empowerment UNESCO. (2005). Education for all. Global monitoring report. Understanding Quality. UNESCO, Paris. UNICEF. (2000). Defining education quality. UNICEF. United Nations. (2015). Sustainable development goals. UN General Assembly. World Education Forum. (2015). Incheon declaration: Education 2030; Towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all. UNESCO, Paris. Whitehead, A. N. (1970). The aims of education and other essays. Ernest Benn Ltd. Zwane, T. (2021, October 24). Fitch points a bleak economic picture. City Press, pp. 1–18.

Chapter 8

Promoting Gender Equality in Ghana: Sociocultural Factors in Perspective Yvette A. A. Ussher, Linda Tsevi, and Ama Boafo-Arthur

Abstract Despite many efforts in promoting gender equality, the issue has not become obsolete. Gender inequality with respect to education continues to exist as it finds its expression in socio-cultural factors. This paper explores sociocultural factors that contribute to gender disparity with respect to education. Using semistructured interviews, the study explores the views of university faculty members regarding sociocultural factors that affect gender educational inequality and solicit their views on interventions being implemented to promote gender equality. The findings of the study show that gendered division of labour is the predominant sociocultural practice that promotes gender inequality with respect to education and must be reviewed using advocacy and community engagement. The authors therefore argue that unless these socio-cultural practices hegemonized in African society is done away with, gender inequality with respect to education will never become obsolete. There is therefore the need to create awareness and sensitization of the negative effects of socio-cultural practices using African indigenous knowledge and education to promote self-emancipation of females, and an agenda for education and development. Keywords Gender inequality · Educational disparity · Patriarchy · Females · Ghana

Y. A. A. Ussher (B) Department of Adult Education and Human Resouce Studies, School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] L. Tsevi · A. Boafo-Arthur Department of Distance Education, School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] A. Boafo-Arthur e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_8

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1 Introduction Gender equality declared as the fifth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) clearly states that development can only succeed if its benefits are enjoyed equally by women and men (United Nations, 2019). This goal agenda calls for equality in women’s access to education and health care, in ownership and control over resources (Lardies et al., 2019). This is because gender inequality continues to exist and needs to be addressed. One of the major factors hindering the bridging of the gender gap is patriarchal societies that assign different traditional roles to women and men, as well as the gendered division of labour. Patriarchy, originates from the Greek language which literally means “rule by the father” has no concise definition (Higgins, 2018). However, some scholars (e.g. Higgins, 2018; Altay, 2019) have described it as systemic societal structures that institutionalize male physical, social and economic power over women. Such institutionalization of men’s dominance over women has been connected to external hegemonic masculinity which has been conceptualized as the legitimacy of patriarchy. Patriarchy tends to guarantee the dominant position of men and subordinate of women. This hegemonic masculinity makes men position in patriarchal societies to have certain material advantages such as easier access to education which has been referred to as ‘patriarchal dividend’ by Connell. (Demetriou, 2001). This implies that it conveys the existence of a societal structure of male supremacy that operates at the expense of women (Higgins, 2018). Connelly and Barriteau (2000) argue that patriarchal values and practices tend to project the interests of men as a group and protect their privileges while simultaneously devaluing the values and interests of women as a group. Higgins (2018) further points out that patriarchy is upheld by powerful cultural norms and supported by tradition, education and religion that operates through inequalities at the level of the law and the state, but also through the home and the workplace. The tree of patriarchy from Johnson’s Gender Knot (1997) has been used to describe the system of patriarchy. The parts of a tree (roots, trunk, branches, and leaves) are used in this narrative to describe how patriarchy is shaped by and performs in society. The roots of the tree represent the deep-seated nature of patriarchy. Its roots are found in the core principles of male dominance, centrism, and control with these values rooted deeply and firmly. The roots demonstrate a deep-rooted male control that is very complex and hard to disentangle or remove. The gender dynamics individuals experience daily, are shaped by deep-rooted male control (Johnson, 1997) with complex roles showing that patriarchy is hard to untangle and remove (Johnson, 2013). The trunk represents institutions within society that is shaped by and, in turn, support patriarchy. Institutions such as education, religion, and the economy (Johnson, 2013) which we participate in on daily basis affect the way we view the world. These institutions are founded on the roots of patriarchy and are responsible for the reflection of these values onto broader society (Johnson, 2013). The tree’s branches reflect the way individuals interact with patriarchy. The branches affect our day-to-day lives and include communities, organizations, legal structures, and our families. The leaves represent individuals, and are the result of patriarchal systems,

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and it is their activities that sustain the entire tree (Johnson, 1997). Patriarchal system of power exists in the cultural norms that are associated with socialization perpetuating the ideology of traditional gender roles and promoting gender division of labour. Consequently, Alesina et al. (2013) argue that cultural traits and values play a significant role in inequalities in the gender division of labour of domestic chores. This power dominance disadvantages women by limiting opportunities in most spheres of society. Gramsci asserts that the culture and practices of the dominant powers of any class-based society would necessitate the deployment of particular cultural norms and mindsets that would dull and inhibit critical consciousness, thereby short-circuiting the radical activity of the working class (Bronner, 2011). The theory of hegemony developed by Gramsci tends to reserve a place for the intellectuals in society because men find themselves born in a process independent of their will, they cannot control it, they can seek only to understand it and guide their actions accordingly. The Neo-Marxist supporting the argument of Gramsci notes that hegemony is a process of domination, whereby one set of ideas subverts or co-opts another (Gramsci, 1971). The Neo-Marxists noted that culture is one site where the struggle for hegemony takes place. Seiler (2008) argues that the process of hegemony occurs in varied settings. Therefore, occurs when events are interpreted in a way that promotes the interests of one group over those of another. The process can be as subtle as co-opting the interests of a subordinate group into supporting those of a dominant one. For example, in patriarchal societies such as Ghana, male dominance is associated with the social and cultural structure that governs the shared norms and values, power thus is socially situated. Gender inequalities stem from the associated patriarchy leading to ‘opportunity struggle’ between men and women leading to inequalities. These inequalities created by societal structures and culture act as facilitators of domination and barriers to freedom (Seiler, 2008). These systems must be changed to overcome oppression and improve human conditions (Bronner, 2011) as argued by the critical theorists to engage in reflective assessment and critique of socio- cultural factors to reveal their negative effects. There is a need to create awareness and sensitization of these sociocultural factors to break the cycle of gender inequalities manifested in education. A need for critical thinking for self- emancipation to bring social change in Africa to eliminate masculinity and cultural hegemony. This marked our point of departure as we explore this opportunity struggle by exploring socio-cultural factors contributing to educational inequalities. Sociocultural factors have contributed to gender disparity with respect to education in Africa. This disparity has not been successfully bridged even though women’s education, work opportunities, and decision-making power in the household have increased. This is because these gains are often modest and inconsistent across countries. For instance, in Africa girls experience a high rate of exclusion in education as the exclusion rate for girls is 36% compared to 32% for boys. It is reported that 9 million girls between the ages of 6 and 11 will never go to school compared to 6 million boys with 23% of girls out of primary school compared to 19% of boys.

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It is also reported that more than 49 million girls are out of primary and secondary school in Africa (UNESCO/UIS, 2021). Globally education has been recognized as a fundamental human right and one of the key ingredients that contribute to the socio-economic development of nations. To this end Nelson Mandela once stated that ‘education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’ (Ekundayo, 2018). This suggests that the right to education is the most important right with which the world can be changed and developed (Ekundayo, 2018). To achieve this change and development globally there is the ensuring of universal access to education as many international conventions such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has its fourth goal target as ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all (Akorful et al., 2019) to contribute to achieving universal basic education and promoting gender equality. To this end, commitments have been made by many African governments to promote gender equality and universal access to free primary and secondary education for all children by 2030 (Human Rights Watch, 2021) as governments make access to education one of their key development agenda. Education is a fundamental human right for all children, both girls and boys however in many parts of Africa girls are excluded as mentioned early on in Africa girls’ enrollment still lags behind boys’ enrollment despite the efforts of many governments to bridge the gender gap. What are the militating factors against gender equality in Africa? This paper explores education with respect to gender disparities from a socio-cultural perspective. The authors thus explored the mitigating factors associated with socio-cultural issues that are the root cause of girls’ exclusion in education in Africa. Gender inequality with regards to education has led to the introduction of interventions due to governments’ commitment to addressing these inequalities. To this end we will further assess some of the educational interventions and their contributions in reducing these inequalities. The subsequent sections of this paper will expatiate on socio-cultural issues and barriers to girls’ enrolment and gender inequality, educational system and literacy levels, and some interventions implemented with respect to education. The expatiation of these issues will be situated in the Ghanaian context, therefore the discussion will commence with a brief profile of Ghana.

2 Brief Profile of Ghana Ghana, previously named the Gold Coast, attained independence from the British in 1957, becoming the first sub-Saharan nation to break away from the rule of colonial masters (Addai & Pokimica, 2010). Geographically, Ghana is located in Western Africa and is bordered on the south by the Gulf of Guinea, on the west by Cote d’Ivoire, on the east by Togo and on the north by Burkina Faso. Socially and demographically, Ghana has a total area of 238 533 sq km1 and a population of 24.6 1

CIA World Fact Book (2014).

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million made up 49% males and 51% females2 and with an estimated population growth rate of 2.7% per annum3 About 51% of Ghana’s population is in urban areas and the country has sixteen administrative regions. The Ghanaian population is made up of many ethnic groups; the largest being the Akan (45.3%) followed by the MoleDagbon (15.2%), Ewe (11.7%), Ga-Dangme (7.3%), Guan (4%) and Gurma (3.6%).4 English is the official language of Ghana.5 In Ghana, almost one-third (32%) of the population has no education, which automatically restricts entry into occupational categories requiring some level of formal training.

3 Socio-cultural Factors Contributing to Educational Disparity In Ghana, the role of culture is very important in the organization of domestic and communal activities. Male behavior in families is influenced by the expectations of their fellow men with regards to what it means to be a man within the community in which they find themselves. This expected conformity with cultural norms and practices coupled with expectations perpetuates masculine tendencies among boys and men (Boateng et al., 2006). Again, in order to ensure that males and females recognize and respect their appropriate gender positions in society, maxims are often used in daily interactions to explain, describe and reinforce stereotypes regarding men and women. There are several cultural practices and traditions in Ghana that enhance stratification of gender roles and these are passed on from one generation to the other (Boateng et al., 2006). In the economic and social spheres, men are often assigned tasks that require them to leave home and the emphasis in their training is on public activities whereas girls’ responsibilities are home-based (Boateng et al., 2006). As argued by Boateng et al. (2006), females are socialized to look up to men and boys as stronger, wiser, dependable, and more responsible while boys are groomed to lead, direct, and control women. Thus, girls carry the greater burden of domestic work and boys are allowed more time for play and to be away from home. In Ghanaian rural settings, generally, women hold positions that are secondary compared to the men (Bandiaky, 2008), which underpins the notions and expectations regarding household chores, responsibilities and decision-making within families. It can therefore be concluded that though there are constitutional and legal guarantees in Ghana, the reality on the ground does not measure up to equal rights for both males and females, especially in deprived communities. This is often manifested in all areas including education (Jayachandran, 2015). In Africa not excluding Ghana barriers to girls’ education have been attributed to many socio-cultural factors. Household chores or female domestic labour taking 2

Ghana Statistical Service (2013) CIA World Fact Book (2014). 4 Ghana Statistical Service (2012); CIA World Fact Book (2014). 5 CIA World Fact Book (2014). 3

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its roots from patriarchy is one of the key socio-cultural factors that militate against girls’ achievement at school and is also a sizeable opportunity cost for parents when they make a choice about whether to send a child to school. In other words, the need for female domestic labour affects decisions about whether to send a daughter to school in the first place and once at school, how long she should stay (Mbilinyi & Mbughuni, 1991; Acheampong, 2015). Berry (1994) and Madah (1999) also point out that there is an opportunity cost of sending daughters to school as the girl-child’s labour is considered indispensable to the survival of many households particularly in rural areas. This is because some parents are reluctant to send their daughters to school because their labour is needed in the home and on the farms. Boy child preference has also been noted as a socio-cultural factor contributing to gender disparity with regards to education. Atuahene and Owusu-Ansah (2013) also explain that socioeconomically, poor parents tend to sacrifice their girls’ education in favour of males when they need to make the financial decision to send only one child to school. Culturally, in most rural areas when families finances are inadequate, there is the entrenched perception of parents sacrificing their daughters’ education and request of them to participate in economic activities to supplement household income. Girls are more likely than males to support their family either by engaging in selling goods and services or babysitting their younger siblings especially in the rural areas. In Ghana, fostering has been a contributing factor to educational disparity. Adamu Issah et al. (2007) pointed out that in the Northern Region of Ghana, for instance, the practice of sending girls to live with their aunts serve to keep many girls out of school as many of these aunts keep the girls at home to help them in their income-generating businesses. Some of these aunts, especially the old ones, may also be too poor to pay for the education of such girls. Daddieh stated that “... negative parental attitudes and cultural practices have tended to devalue female educational achievements, and thereby undermine their educational participation” (Daddieh, 2003, p. 23). Therefore going up the educational ladder to attain secondary education and beyond is attributed to factors which include, financial stress on the families (particularly poor families) late marriages, parents’ level of education, lack of role models for girls in school and a high incidence of poverty. The resistance to female education stemmed from the conviction that women would be supported by their husbands. Also, parents feel that since the girl-child is going to marry into another family, sending her through school is not worth the investment. In some circles, there was even the fear that a girl’s marriage prospects dimmed when she becomes highly educated. In addition, low level of female education is attributed to misunderstanding and cultural barriers such as the fear that sending girls to school threatens their chastity; the concern that girls who go to school are unable to perform chores at home; and the conception that enrolling girls in school results in lower household productivity (Madah, 1999). Acheampong (2015) also points out that socio-cultural threats such early marriage and lack of parental encouragement for girls act as one of the factors that affect girls in their bid to go to school.

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3.1 Ghana’s Educational System: An Overview The educational system in Ghana is grouped under three main sub sectors, namely: basic education; secondary education; and tertiary education. Such sub-sectors emerged due to Ghana’s Ministry of Education restructuring the educational system in 1987. Prior to the 1987 reforms, the structure of Ghana’s education system consisted of 6 years primary schooling, 4 years middle, 5 years secondary (O’ Level) and 2 years ‘A’ level; totaling 17 years. The new reform shortened the pre-university education structure from 17 to 12 years by introducing Junior High (Secondary) school (JHS/JSS) to replace Middle School. The Secondary school (‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels) was replaced with Senior High (Secondary) School (SHS/SSS). Junior High School comprises Forms one to three and it is part of the country’s nine-year basic education. The nine years of basic education comprises three years of JHS and six years of primary school (Keteku, 1999). With this new structure, the 6-3-3-4 system was introduced, comprising of six years of primary-school education, three years of junior high-school education, three years of senior high-school education and a minimum of four years of tertiary education (Effah & Senadza, 2008).

4 Education and Literacy Levels Despite the educational restructuring the 2010 Population and Housing Census (2010 PHC) revealed that education was exemplified by a wide disparity as men have consistently enjoyed an advantage over women in educational advancement in Ghana. Women constitute about 51 percent of Ghana’s population (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012) the gross female pre-school enrolment rate in Ghana is lower for females than males. In the study by Takyi et al. (2019) they noted that the gross and net enrolment rates at the primary, secondary and tertiary schools for females lag behind that of males; implying a relatively lower transition rate for females than males as they move up the educational ladder. Takyi et al. (2019) further indicated that female formal education enrolment rate worsens with increasing higher education, contributing to the gap in literacy rates between the male and female populations in Ghana. Sasu (2020) revealed that as of 2019, the Gender Parity Index (GPI) for gross enrollment in tertiary education in Ghana stood at 0.8, which is an indication that learning opportunities favored more men than women. Gender disparities in educational opportunities are likely to have important implications for access to employment in the formal economy especially for women, if formal economy jobs require higher levels of educational attainment. This suggests that with limited access to educational opportunities especially for women, they will be constrained and will tend to find employment opportunities in the informal economy. In Ghana, as elsewhere, education is an important determinant of people’s employment options. Subsequently, both the level of educational attainment as well as the quality of education available has an impact on employment options available

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to individuals seeking work (Heintz & Pickbourne, 2012). It is observed that formal education particularly post-primary education has a positive effect on women’s labour force participation and to a large extent on job opportunities (Kabeer, 2012). A study by Lardies et al. (2019) revealed that whereas most Africans say girls and boys now have equal access to education, significant gender gaps in educational achievement remain. Even among the youngest generation, more females than males have no formal education, and more males than females have post-primary schooling. In addition, Lardies et al. (2019) argue that overwhelmingly, Africans say girls now have the same chance as boys of getting an education—a foundational right with implications for all others. But for African women overall, a large education deficit remains a major barrier, likely responsible in part for their continued disadvantage in labour-market participation and employment.

5 Higher Education in Ghana: Brief Overview Public higher education institutions in post-independence Anglophone Africa have been regarded as elite institutions following the British model with internal quality assurance measures and an external examiner system. During the pre-independence era, these institutions were controlled by universities in Britain and were thus tasked to comparable standards prevailing in their oversight providing institutions (Sawyerr, 2004). In pre-colonial Africa, indigenous education was based on teaching by example and practical learning. Therefore education was oriented toward application and focused on producing a well-grounded individual who will contribute to the development of society (Pinto, 2019). However, before the attainment of independence from colonial authorities in Ghana, Western formal education was made available to natives in Africa to equip them to become mediators and interpreters as well as good Christians (Antwi, 1991). Invariably, the colonial British government allowed the missionaries in the Gold Coast (now Ghana) to establish educational institutions to enable their employment in the European commercial enterprises. By the 1920s, the Princess of Wales School and College in Achimota was established. It was primarily set up as a vocational/technical educational institution, but soon became the basis of higher education in the then Gold Coast which was renamed Ghana after the attainment of independence (Atteh, 1996). After independence, public higher education provision was solely financed by the Ghana government. The funding package included full scholarship, boarding, lodging, and monthly stipends to students. Initially, a group of Ghanaians was trained to take over leadership in the public service from the colonial masters. Eventually, higher education was seen as a significant aspect of the ruling government’s social policies. Between 1960 and 1970s, Ghana spent as much as about 30 percent of her Gross National Product (GNP) on higher education (Assie-Lumumba, 2006; Atteh, 1996). However, with rapid population growth, coupled with the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Program policies, the government could not sustain its full sponsorship (Ajayi et al., 1996; Assie-Lumumba, 2006).

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Conditions in Ghana’s higher education sector in the 1980s deteriorated as a result of factors including continuous military interventions in the governance of the country, economic downturn of the 1980s resulting in the privatization of public services (including higher education), and population growth. To address the demands of population growth and the increasing numbers of secondary school graduates, the Ghana government, in the 1980s, expanded its scope of higher education by increasing student intake, without a corresponding increase in the number of teaching and instructional facilities (Thaver, 2004). The resultant effect of this was a tremendous strain on physical, financial and human resources of the nation. Funding for higher education in Ghana also decreased in absolute terms in the 1980s. It was mainly a consequence of the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) that privatized public services under the guidance of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As part of the SAP conditions, there was currency devaluation and a focus on primary and secondary education, at the expense of higher education (Assie-Lumumba, 2006; Teferra & Altbach. 2004). It was believed at the time that the rates of return for primary and secondary education were greater than returns to higher education (Psacharopoulos, 1985). This impacted the ability of the government to provide infrastructural facilities for its educational institutions even though school enrollments had increased by more than 50% (Atteh, 1996). There was an excess demand over supply in the provision of postsecondary education, be it at the level of the university, professional or training institutes. The focus on primary and secondary education resulted in Ghana’s education system swelling up at those levels without adequate space to absorb the students at the public higher education level. Thus admissions at the public higher education institutions were very limited. This created a perfect chance for private sector involvement. Access to education in Ghana is impacted by a number of issues such as socio-economic level, ethnicity and gender. Equal opportunity impacted educational choices based on elements that include school quality, the cost to family, and rate of return. According to Ballantine and Hammack (2009) regional variations affected educational opportunities for children from both the elite and the working class families. The southern part of Ghana had more education accessibility than the northern part of the country as a result of colonial education institutions’ dominance in the south during the pre-independence period. Moreover, the South was more promising and open to development than the North. Scholars have also noted that higher education access has not always been equitable to every individual. For example, McDonough (1994) indicates that students whose families have cultural, social and economic capital have easy access to postsecondary information. Further, the human capital theory states that “investments can be made in human beings as well as in physical capital which yield a future stream of returns or dividends to the initial investment” (Langelett, 2002, p. 1). By providing increased access to higher education, opportunities are created by individuals to invest for a future output benefit to the economy and to them. From the economist point of view investing in the human resource of a country would lead to economic growth.

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6 Educational Intervention Policies To bridge the gender equity gap and create functionally literate and productive population several governments introduced policies that will remove the barriers that prevent girls’ enrollment into a formal educational system (Dzidza et al., 2018). The government of Ghana through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced social interventions to facilitate the attainment of two major dimensions of access to education: affordability and availability (Akorful et al., 2019). These policies include the 1951 Accelerated Education Development Plan (ADP), Education Strategic Plan (ESP) for 2003–2005, the Growth Poverty Reduction Strategy, and the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy for 1995–2005 (Akyeampong, 2009). Other policies and interventions that were introduced to achieve quality and equitable education include: (1) the Education Strategic Plan 2010–2020, (2) the Information and Communication Technology in Education Policy 2015, (3) the Ghana Education Standard and Guidelines 2015 and (4) the Inclusive Education Policy 2015. These policies are rooted in Article 38(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, which states that the State shall provide educational facilities at all levels and in all the regions of Ghana, and shall, to the greatest extent feasible, make those facilities available to all citizens (Takyi et al., 2019). In Ghana, the main interventions at the primary level were the school feeding programme and the capitation grant. The school feeding programme was an intervention designed to provide pupils with a balanced meal in a day and targets basic schools with enrolment problems and high levels of poverty. The capitation grant was introduced to put an end to the charging of school fees. It indicated the governments’ commitment to providing free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE) and called for the abolition of tuition fee payment at the basic level (Akyeampong, 2009) whiles the school feeding programme guaranteed pupil per head free lunch at school (Iddrisu, 2018). At the secondary or senior high school level, the free Senior High School policy was introduced in 2017 for all new entrants to Senior High Schools nationwide. The aim of the programme is to guarantee all children who have successfully passed their Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE) a cost-free access to secondary education without any financial hindrance. The utmost aim is to ensure that secondary education is free and accessible to all irrespective of one’s financial status. This intervention was aimed at achieving UN SDGs goal 4, target 1 which states that ‘by 2030 all boys and girls complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes’ (Addo, 2019, p. 81). This was also to fulfill the 1992 Ghanaian constitution which states that ‘secondary education in its different forms which include technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education’ (Addo, 2019, p. 81).

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The Affirmative Action was the main intervention policy introduced at the tertiary level. Ghana was a member of the General Assembly which adopted the UN Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against women in 1979, and ratified in 1986. She also participated in deliberations of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 (WILDAF, 2010). What generates interest in research is how such international policies are being transformed to reflect in various spheres of national development where they are applicable. At the cabinet level in Ghana, a statement of policy was issued to provide a set of guidelines for the systematic and sustained implementation of the aspects of Affirmative Action towards equality of opportunities for women in Ghana. The deliberations and the ratification of these treaties also yielded policies to enhance the establishment of a more clear-cut administrative framework to ensure appropriate representation of women on all advisory bodies to mainstream women’s issues and initiate action to satisfy women’s interests in the political, economic and social aspects of life (Bekaako, 1998). From the foregoing discussion, education interventions introduced in Ghana were conceived and implemented within the framework of Euro-centric education (Tuwor & Sossou, 2008) therefore tend not to contribute to the lessening of gender disparity associated with socio-cultural factors to foster African development education. Formal education or schooling introduced by the colonialists has been one of the basis of discussion of gender inequality, The role of informal education as an Africanized education contribution to development has been ignored. Informal education which provides girls with the necessary skills and knowledge should be reconsidered as socio-cultural practices are undertaken.

7 Methodology Although there have been studies (e.g. Atuahene & Owusu-Ansah, 2013), highlighting the presence of gender inequalities in Ghanaian society, the views of university faculty members on gender disparities with respect to education have not been adequately represented in the literature. With a qualitative exploratory research design via semi-structured interviews faculty members within the colleges of education at the University of Ghana were interviewed. The study site is University of Ghana which has four colleges: College of Education, College of Humanities, College of Basic and Applied Sciences and College of Health Sciences. The researchers purposively selected the College of Education of the University of Ghana. This College consist of three Schools namely, School of Information and Communication Studies, School of Education and Leadership and School of Continuing and Distance Education. Within this purposively selected College, we choose the convenience sampling strategy to select study participants. Therefore we purposively chose faculty members within this College and followed the argument of Guest et al. (2006) that studies of more heterogeneous samples, 12 interviews will suffice. To this end we had 18 participants interviewed as data saturation was reached after the 18th interview, at which point no new concepts emerged from subsequent

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interviews (Patton, 2002). Our sample size was also deemed adequate as sample size determination is guided by the criterion of informational redundancy, that is, sampling can be terminated when no new information is elicited by sampling more units (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In exploratory qualitative research designs, the views of participants are sought more closely, so that insights can be gained into their thoughts in relation to the question of interest (Smith et al., 2009). As such, an interview guide was developed based on the study objectives. The guide was delineated into four sections namely: participants background, socio-cultural factors and gender inequality, gender and education inequality, nature and extent of policy intervention in education. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the data was collected via telephone interviews and online using either zoom. The interviews were conducted from 10 January to February 5, 2021. This approach was adopted to make participants feel at ease to answer the questions without having to think of becoming infected with COVID-19. Participants made themselves available at their own convenience. The average length of the interview sessions was 30–45 minutes. Verbal consent was obtained from each participant before interviews were conducted, and anonymity was also guaranteed by the decision to use pseudonyms. The interviews were conducted in English because this was the major language of instruction across all universities as well as the official language of the country therefore all participants could easily communicate in the English language.

8 Data Presentation and Analysis The method of thematic analyses was used to analyse the data obtained from the interviews. Braun and Clarke (2013) delineate six steps in conducting thematic analyses. These steps were followed in analysing the data collected from the field. Given that the research focused on three thematic areas (socio-cultural barriers, education inequality and interventions) it was necessary to thoroughly examine the data repeatedly and code segments of the data as well as develop themes that addressed the objectives of the study. Interviews were therefore transcribed verbatim to get a sense of the data, assess the completeness, and identify new themes not initially considered in the interview guides. Based on the interview guides, themes coding categories were identified. All coded transcripts were checked for consistency. To further ensure reliability and validity of data analysed, there was member checking thus, a peer reviewer reviewed all the codes to eliminate possible research bias. Finally, descriptive quotes were selected, and extracts were used to represent the interviewees’ views on the study’s focus.

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9 Discussion of Findings 9.1 Background of Participants Out of the 18 faculty members who participated in the study, 11 of them were males while the remaining were females. More than half (11 out of 18) of the participants were between the ages of 35 and 50 years and an overwhelming majority (12 out of 18) of the participants were married.

9.2 Role of Sociocultural Factors in Educational Inequality Socio-cultural factors as discussed previously are some of the causal factors of gender inequality with respect to education. Therefore they cannot be ignored when exploring gender disparity. To this end, we sought to find out the sociocultural factors that tend to perpetuate gender disparity in Ghana. Gendered division of labour which manifests itself through socialization and boy preference for education due to poverty were the predominant factors mentioned by the participants. These predominant factors will be discussed in the subsequent paragraph.

9.3 Gendered Division of Labour Gender inequality is grossly associated with gendered division of labour stemming from the way socialisation is done in Africa and particularly in Ghana. Girls and boys are socialised into adulthood with specific cultural roles assigned and expected to be performed. All the participants (18) affirmed that gendered division of labour reflected in the culturally assigned roles for both men and women tend to perpetuate gender inequality. All the participants (18) were unanimous as they expressed their views on culturally assigned females’ roles that perpetuate gender inequality. In the Ghanaian culture, girls are socialised to take up the domestic role, making boys understand that it is the girl’s responsibility to perform the domestic role without any support. Participants noted that gender socialisation received during childhood influenced the roles and expectations of each gender in the home. Tasks or roles were therefore assigned based on being a female or male when growing up. As the young girls and boys are socialised, parents as well as other family members exhibit these roles and expectations and inculcate into them their cultural responsibilities. Such socialisation tends to reflect a gender role disparity. The participants opined that with males perceived as heads of the family as well as breadwinners, during socialisation from childhood through to becoming men, they are assigned specific roles from childhood to groom them for their future responsibilities. Study participants argued that the predominant assigned role of girls during

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socialisation is to be caretakers of the home and to handle the domestic chores: A male participant thus recounts: Women must be responsible for house chores and confined to the kitchen.

Another male participant thus narrated: Males are bread winners of the family, and heads of families. These roles render female subservient.

This major role as head of the family assigned to men implies that they are to cater for their wives and children thus incurring majority of the expenses in the home. This role tends to make men the predominant decision makers in the home depicting inequality in decision making. Males therefore need to be financially sound to fulfil this task as breadwinner and head of the family thus given the opportunity to go to school to attain higher educational levels. However, women perceived to be taken care of by their husbands are either allowed to at least attain some form of education not to the highest level or never sent to school at all.

9.4 Low Income and Preference for Boys Our interactions with the participants regarding which gender is more likely to be given a chance to attend school in times of financial difficulty apart from gendered division of labour, show that preference will be given to boys to go to school. Participants argued that in most rural areas where family finances are low, there is the sacrificing of daughters’ education and requesting of them to participate in economic activities to supplement household income. Also girls’ education are sacrificed the reason being that later in life will be taken care of by their husbands. A female participant narrated thus: Gender inequality especially with education for girls will still prevail in the rural areas due to poverty.

Another male participant said: where cost is an issue, females’ education will tend to be sacrificed for that of males.

More than one-third of participants further pointed out that in cases where both a girl and boy are in school and educational preferences must be made due to financial constraints, boys are more likely to be given the opportunity to move up the education ladder. A male participant recounts: males would still be favoured in the poorer urban households in the face of financial constraints to education

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From the above narratives of participants, education levels of women in Ghana, in particular will tend to continue to be low especially among poor families. In poor communities, women will have to work to supplement household income. A male participant thus reiterated: Yes. But this [women role] means a lot more than just breastfeeding, cooking, washing and doing all other household chores. It includes engaging in some economic activities to support the family. This finding was also noted by Mushi and Makauki (2010). Due to lack of or low educational level, women will be found in the lower echelons of society and continue to predominate in informal activities (Osei-Boateng & Ampratwum, 2011) to supplement household income in the family. A reflection of women disadvantage at the expense of men, as investments are made into boys’ education. This finding of the study also reflects the role of culture in hindering access to education for girls particularly in the Ghanaian rural communities. This finding resonates the assertion made by Atuahene & Owusu-Ansah (2013) that poor parents tend to sacrifice their girls’ education in favour of males whenever they must make the financial decision to send only one child to school. Interestingly a little under one-third however argued that in the urban areas, both males and females would be given the chance to go to school despite financial constraints as many parents in the urban areas are perceived to be elites and therefore will go all lengths and sacrifice to ensure both their girl and boy children to go to school. A female participant thus reiterated: Many parents are elites in urban Accra so they will give an equal opportunity to male and female children to go to school. Another male participant narrated: I intend to give my children the best of opportunities and will therefore not sacrifice one’s education for the other.

A little under one third of the interviewees further argued that gender should not be considered in granting access to education as national development is the responsibility of all citizens. A male participant narrated thus: Not in this modern society both boys and girls must be given equal opportunities with respect to education.

Participants of the study add that in these contemporary times, formal education has become important and with the advocacy for girl child education no one should be left behind. A kind of awareness reflected here shows the need for self-emancipation from cultural norms.

9.5 Sociocultural Factors Emancipation To self- emancipate from these socio-cultural factors that tend to hegemonize male dominance and masculinities in Africa, we explored the views of participants on ways these factors tend to give advantage to boys with respect to education. To reduce these

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educational inequalities, three main issues were suggested based on our interaction with participants. These were reviewing gendered division of labour socio-cultural practice, advocacy and providing free pre-tertiary education for all. These issues are discussed in detail in the following paragraphs.

9.6 Reviewing Cultural Practices Participants opined that to provide an equal educational opportunity for all, there should be a modification of culturally assigned roles pertaining to gender division of labour, culture or traditional practices. Girls’ role of being in the kitchen and therefore socialised as a home caregiver and domestic worker should be reconsidered to provide them access to education. This will grant them the opportunity to move up the education ladder. Both boys and girls should be socialised to partake in domestic activities so that when they grow up they can support each other at home. This finding reflects the self- reflection assessment of culture and society notion of the critical theorists. Such a reflection would help challenge the existing structure to bring a change. The creating of such awareness among communities particularly using African forms of dissemination of information such as the gong and durbars will go a long way to reveal the negative effects of lack of education on girls.

9.7 Advocacy A little under one-third of the participants argued that despite African cultural practices being a disadvantage for girls, equal access to education could be addressed through advocacy. There should be stakeholder engagement with parents and communities that will enlighten rural dwellers especially on the importance of enrolling their girl child in school. A male participant narrated thus: By doing more advocacy and enlightenment of parents and guardians. In doing this advocacy certain cultural practices must be reviewed to make the advocacy very effective.

Participants added that the negative effects of certain cultural practices that hinder girl enrolment in school or going up the ladder due to financial constraints should be clearly stated during the advocacy. In furtherance to this, to enhance advocacy prominent women who have gone up the ladder and have made it should serve as role models in communities especially rural areas to educate parents on the importance of enrolling the girl child in school. A female participant narrated thus: Women in high positions should always be aired on television to sensitize the young ones. These women should serve as role models.

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9.8 Free Pre-Tertiary Education Intervention Furthermore, to provide equal education accessibility to both boys and girls, participants suggested that providing free compulsory pre-tertiary education for all children particularly in the rural areas will grant girls access to education from childhood. Such access will grant them further opportunities to go up the educational ladder. A male participant reiterated: First is to make education at the pre-tertiary level free but compulsory for all children at school going age. There should also be equitable access to pre-tertiary education in all communities of the country particularly in the rural areas.

This resonates with the argument of Mushi and Makauki (2010) of the need for affirmation action in order to successfully fill in the persistent gap in higher education. With such an opportunity of attaining higher education levels, girls will be employed in the formal economy and contribute to the education for development agenda. Participants added that you tend to gain more recognition in these modern times when you are employed (either in the formal or informal sector) and able to manage your homes as well, a reflection of self-emancipation from and hegemonized masculinity. A female participant reiterated: Certainly, that is what modern society requires us, to be educated and employed. There is great value in trying to balance managing the home at the same time doing active economic activities.

From our interactions, all the participants further opined that promoting girl child education implies girls’ empowerment. They argued that due to culture females are often marginalised rendering them powerless in diverse ways, but with access to education, they will be empowered. Also, they will be financially empowered and in the long run provide them the opportunity to support their families, contribute to decision making at home, become financially independent and gain more recognition from their spouses and society. A male participant reiterated: Educating girls make them to become empowered and contribute to development.

A female participant narrated thus: Girl child education is pivotal for the wellbeing of the family as it can lead to independent life of girls later in life. This finding confirms the argument of Ngulube (2018) that education provided women opportunities to have a job, earn regular income and more likely to attain autonomy and have decision power, a reflection of self- emancipation from hegemonic masculinity.

9.9 Education Inequality Interventions Awareness and Their Effects In reducing gender inequality with respect to education many governments have attempted to promote girl child education. The researchers deemed it appropriate to

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also probe into the awareness of these interventions and their effects on education. The findings from the study showed that all participants were aware of educational interventions in Africa introduced by governments to reduce educational inequality at the basic level. Participants mentioned the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) as an intervention that has helped to influence gender equity at the basic level. Other interventions that participants mentioned were the School Feeding Program and Capitation Grants. The school feeding programme seems to be a well-known policy among participants. The Free Senior High School Policy dominated the discussion at the secondary level as the key leveller of inequality. Participants argued that such a policy has led to the poor who might never have access to secondary education being enrolled. At the tertiary level, three interventions were clearly outlined by participants. These were Affirmative Action, Scholarships for brilliant but needy students, and student loans for those who desired them to support themselves throughout the study period. With these interventions to address gender inequalities in education, the views of the effects were explored among participants. From our interaction, participants claimed that all the educational interventions to an extent have yielded results as school enrolment has increased. Interventions introduced at various levels primarily seek to promote access and get rid of bottlenecks that usually impede the progress of the girl child. At the basic level, participants largely noted that interventions such as the FCUBE and school feeding programme have led to increased enrolment and retention of pupils at the basic level. One female participant stated: now in my community children who previously were not in school have been enrolled. I feel the intervention has increase enrolment. At the SHS level, all participants also noted that the introduction of Free Senior High School has promoted equal access and opportunity for all children to go to school. They pointed out that the introduction of the free SHS policy has led to an increase in enrolment, and the retention of females particularly at schools. At the basic level and senior high level, participants were unanimous in declaring that the educational interventions aforementioned to a large extent have brought equality and girl child development. They further noted that these interventions would create more formal employment opportunities for women in the formal economy.

10 Intervention Implementation Challenges Our further interaction with participants showed that even though enrolments seemed to have increased, there were some challenges associated with the implementation of these aforementioned interventions. More than two-thirds of participants alluded that at the basic level the delay of adequate infrastructure and resources provision tended to put pressure on school management. Akyeampong et al. (2007) identified similar challenges and concluded that limited resources and lack of administrative capacity constrained the ability to adequately implement policies. Such limited resources led to the inability of schools to maintain high levels of enrolment and good performance.

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At the Senior High School level, less than one third of participants said they had no idea of the implementation challenges. However more than one third argued that the inability of schools to manage the increased numbers of students has led to overcrowding in several schools. Furthermore the lack of adequate facilities and resources for teaching and learning in most senior high schools which has resorted to the shift (double track) system were also mentioned as implantation challenges among participants. A female participant recounted: Free SHS should reconsider the shift system. Adequate resources should also be provided by government to make the policy effective. To address these challenges at the basic and SHS levels, more than one third of study participants suggested there was a need for improvement in infrastructure, and adequate financial motivation for teachers. Majority of the participants also argued that access and quality of education ought to go together, therefore there should be checks by appropriate stake holders to ensure quality. They add that internships and promotion of vocational and technical training schools to help eliminate the shift system at the Senior High School level. At the tertiary level the affirmative action interventions should be advocating that scholarships should be made automatic for female students and not just limited to brilliant girls only.

11 Discussion Findings from the study showed gender inequality in Africa, particularly in Ghana stem from sociocultural factors. Participants argued that socio-cultural barriers with regards to the gender division of labour stemming from the hegemonized African masculinity as argued by Beneria and Sen (1981) is one of the key causal factors of gender inequality. The culturally assigned gender role for women as home keepers or domestic workers and men as breadwinners and heads of the family affect access to education for girls. This educational gender disparity stems from the African socialization process. In Africa generally and Ghana in particular, girls are socialized to perform domestic activities without receiving any support or assistance from their brothers. The boys are also tasked with roles that tend to make them assume the breadwinner and head of the family role. Girls therefore, are left behind regarding to education, as they were perceived to be domestic workers, and do not need any formal education, whereas boys need higher education in order to be financially sound to play their breadwinner role when they grow up. The findings from this study show that for education to be accessible to all, sociocultural practices that tend to promote gender inequality should be reviewed. Study participants argued that gendered division of labour as a socio- cultural practice should be abolished. Thus the socialization of females to take the sole responsibility of domestic activities and to make them grow up with the mindset that they belong to the kitchen and therefore should not aspire to attain higher education should be done away with. Participants however argued that these cultural barriers preventing girls from attaining higher formal education could be addressed through advocacy and

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community engagement. Such advocacy should be done by creating awareness via using indigenous ways of disseminating information. Participants were of the view that with advocacy, parents will be enlightened and will comprehend the importance of education. They will therefore, not hesitate to send their girl child to school even in the face of financial difficulties. Most of the participants argued that to enhance advocacy, prominent women should serve as role models especially in rural communities to facilitate the agenda of the importance of girl child education. Our findings also show that males should not gain an advantage over females with regard to formal education as national development is the responsibility of all citizens. On the issue of financial constraints as one of the ingredients that led to educational disparity, participants asserted that governments in Africa should provide free compulsory pre-tertiary education for all. Such a policy will promote equal educational opportunity for all, either in the rural or urban Africa and by extension, Ghana. This is because the findings of the study revealed that in the case of financial difficulties participants will sacrifice their girl child education in favour of their sons. However, in cases where parents are elites and reside in the urban areas, they may reconsider favouring their sons and grant education opportunities for both sexes as they are perceived to understand the girl child education policy. Participants argued that girl child education implies empowerment as it provides women access to be formally employed, become financially independent and be part of decision making at home as well gain recognition in the society. This empowerment when attained by girls would emancipate them from being marginalized. In reducing education disparity as a result of socio-cultural barriers, most participants were aware of the efforts made by Ghanaian governments to introduce intervention policies. At the basic level, the majority of the participants were aware of the FCUBE and the School Feeding programme intervention policy. Overwhelmingly, participants argued that the education interventions particularly the school feeding programme by the government of Ghana has boosted enrollment and retention of children in school. At the secondary level or Senior High School level, the Free Senior High school (SHS) policy was the well-known policy in reducing educational disparity. The Free SHS policy aimed to increase enrollment and ease the financial burden of parents as their children climb up the education ladder has been the first of its kind. To this end participants claimed that the policy has increased the enrollment of girls in school which is a good attempt to reduce gender disparity and increase the involvement of women in formal employment, leading to attaining leadership positions in society. Such positions will provide a good evidential basis for the continuing advocacy for girl child education. At the tertiary level, the affirmative action and scholarships for the brilliant but needy were the policies that predominate among participants as the policy intervention in reducing gender inequality. Such interventions particularly affirmative action, as argued by participants have led to an increase in enrollment in tertiary institutions. Thus, the rural girl child who would not have gotten the opportunity to have a feel of higher education, now has access. This reflects an intervention of reducing gender

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inequality in Ghana to enable women to rise up in society, gain formal employment opportunities and contribute to the development of their nation. Findings from the study also show that even though governments are making efforts to reduce gender inequality with the introduction of educational policies and interventions, there are some challenges in their implementations to fully make it successful. Study participants believed the school feeding programme and the FCUBE (introduced at the basic level) have increased enrollment but have put pressure on school management in institutions that lack adequate infrastructure, resources and the relevant facilities to provide these children with quality education. The same challenges were also noted by participants at the secondary level as free SHS has increased enrollment for girls in particular, however, it is accompanied by inadequate classrooms, resources and facilities. At the tertiary level, even though affirmative action policy has enabled enrollment for girls, most of them are financially challenged to bear their education costs as scholarships available are not adequate. Participants suggested that to promote quality education that would lead to equal formal employment opportunities for both men and women, educational interventions implementation should be accompanied by adequate infrastructure, resources and facilities to sustain enrollment at all educational levels. Monitoring and evaluation of these interventions were proposed by participants as they believed that it would go a long way to sustain and improve on these policies.

12 Conclusion The study primarily sought to explore the socio-cultural issues that contribute to gender disparity in education and further assessed some of the interventions introduced to reduced education inequalities. Generally, the findings of the study show education as one of the keys to promoting socio-economic development and should be available to all. This will provide both men and women the opportunity to play their roles and contribute their quota to national development. Gender equality will therefore be promoted as women’s oppression and hegemonic masculinity will be overcome. The gendered division of labour role in Africa was highlighted in this study as the predominant socio-cultural factor that hinders girls’ education. Findings from the study show that socio-cultural factors stemming from socialization play a significant role in inequalities with respect to education. This is because men are expected to be breadwinners and family heads whereas women are expected to be housekeepers and care givers. These remained largely a big challenge however participants believed that both girls and boys should be given equal educational opportunities particularly in these modern times. The promotion of girl child education was viewed among participants as women empowerment. The educational interventions introduced to reduce inequality revealed tremendous improvements as participants claimed that these interventions irrespective of the level (basic, SHS, and Tertiary level) have affected school enrollment positively

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particularly retention of the females. At the tertiary level the affirmative action policy has accorded females the opportunity to pursue their higher education. Despite the positive effects of the educational interventions the pressure on the existing infrastructure and inadequate resources poses challenges. This study in its entirety has shown the significant role of sociocultural factors in gender disparities in Africa. These socio-cultural threats associated with gender division of labour need to be re-looked at to help reduce these disparities. We therefore, recommend that education (form and informally) and advocacy need to be done in both rural and urban communities in Africa to enlighten people on the adverse effects of these socio-cultural factors. Such education will go a long way to promote gender equity in Africa. This study shows the significance of creating awareness and sensitization of the negative effects of socio-cultural factors on gender inequality. This calls for Africans formally and informally to embark on reviewing their socio-cultural factors associated with their mode of socialization. There should be dismantling of gender division of labour associated with patriarchy as women awareness and sensitization are created to understand their cause of subordination to be emancipated. In other words, a societal reflection assessment of these sociocultural factors that lead to ‘opportunity struggle’ need to be done to help bridge the inequality gender gap. Following the critical theorist argument this calls for development educators to assess this hegemonized ‘power and opportunity struggles’ and alienate Africa from these struggles to improve women conditions, thus promoting gender and development.

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Chapter 9

Distance Education Tutors’ Technology Pedagogical Integration during COVID19 in Ghana: Implications for Development Education and Instructional Design Gideon Mensah Anapey and Simon-Peter Kafui Aheto Abstract Disruptions to education by the 2019 Global pandemic has amplified development educationists’ advocacy for sustainable learner-focused curriculum that addresses cross-cutting themes. Teachers’ failure to effectively use digital media for differentiated learning might continue to widen access, gender, and equity gaps in education for distance learners in the Global South. Within development education framework of raising awareness and understanding of impacts of global affairs on education, we argue that teachers’ technology pedagogical integration competencies are likely to impact quality curriculum delivery in a full-online environment. On a pedagogical integration self-efficacy questionnaire, we elicited data from 197 distance education tutors on a Likert-type scale that yielded reliability coefficient of .9 and face validity checked by instructional design experts. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used for the data analysis and the results suggested that distance education tutors were more likely to select video-based digital tools than asynchronous techniques during tutorial sessions. Secondly, Internet access and technology professional development were the leading needs for tutors’ instructional delivery during the pandemic. Finally, tutors’ technology training and years of teaching experience in facilitating distance education courses were not statistically significant in online pedagogical delivery. We conclude that ICT training amongst distance education tutors remains generic in lieu of digital integration literacy. Recommendations for continuing education, curriculum development, and instructional design are made. Keywords Asynchronous instruction · Development education · Distance education · Learning management system · Online learning · Technology integration G. M. Anapey · S.-P. K. Aheto (B) Department of Distance Education, School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] G. M. Anapey e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_9

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1 Development Education and Online Learning Advocacies of charity-based organisations have brought global development partners’ attention to educational inequalities, marginalisation, inclusivity, and differentiation; the origin of development education, in the views of Bullivant (2011). He states that the field of development education has been characterised with many conceptualisations that overlap. Theoretically, Bullivant believes that the postcolonial theory provides suitable framework to understand development education from a broader perspective. Wealth distribution, imposition of Western education on indigenous cultures, marginalisation, resilience, and technology transfer are few constructs being advocated. Introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals—a framework guiding UN member countries’ strategic growth (UNESCO, 2019) has invariably highlighted skill gaps for global citizenship, and digital literacy. Currently, UNESCO1 is reviewing internet ecosystem of member countries using the Internet Universality Indicators (IUI) in member countries to address citizens’ digital gaps. Based on the philosophy of online instruction that is guided by social-constructivism, interactivity for learner-centred pedagogical approaches guide instructors’ work online. We contend that curriculum delivery in low-tech environments requires instructional designers’ awareness of how global issues such as human rights, sexuality, gender equality, promotion of human rights, climate change, health, innovation, and citizenship education impact educational outcomes for the knowledge economy. Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory guided our assessment of distance education tutors. Belief in technology integration is an important consideration for subjectspecific teaching. Point consideration for higher education curriculum leaders is the conscious approach to encourage teachers to merge development issues into content design, delivery and assessment. Accreditation panels might consider it a requirement to award points for university programmes that focus on cross-cutting issues. Sustainability, climate change and global warming, sanitation, global citizenship should reflect in programme rationales for accreditation. Though education stakeholders have attempted to address development issues through educational policy formulations, the achievement of these ideals hinges on teacher professional development, technology integration, and teachers’ content knowledge. Similarly, teachers ability to deliver their core curriculum amidst crosscutting issues engaging global attention must be emphasised. We propose that instructional designer’s ability to integrate digital media into teaching and learning will greatly transform teaching and learning quality in development education for the Global South. Indeed, technology integration presents unique opportunity for education to meet diverse learning capabilities (Shelly et al., 2012). Differentiated learning, equity, and social inclusion are reinforced using technology in the classroom. The field of development education should focus on faculty technology professional development for increased online instructional delivery using needs assessment practices. Therefore, our contribution to understanding development education in 1

https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/unesco_internet_universality_indicators_second_ver sion.pdf.

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the Ghanaian context is seen from distance education facilitators’ technology integration literacy in addressing pedagogical practices such as differentiated learning, equity, gender, and similar cross-cutting issues in online learning. Teachers’ ability to achieve convergence in text, video, audio, and graphic designs for diverse learning needs is important. Educational institutions in developing countries ought to focus on technology professional development to achieve learning outcomes and skills associated with the knowledge economy. Today, COVID-19 has highlighted the plight of African education with plausible strategic plans for technology integration but remain on drawing boards. Undoubtedbly, African’s youths cannot compete with their peers in the West with traditional classroom that focuses on teacher-centered pedagogy. Refreshingly, digital technology presents a glimmer of hope for education systems globally. Differentiated assessment practices can be effectively delivered with online instructional delivery and bridge access gaps for marginalised children. However, narratives around online learning appears to focus on availability, adequacy, and perceived benefits of digital technology for instructional delivery for policy makers in the Global South. Thus, it appears that instructional designers are yet to explore contextual factors impacting online teaching and learning for higher education faculty in the Global South (Hodges et al., 2020). Besides, transitioning from the predominant traditional classroom practices to virtual learning environments can be problematic for continuing education practitioners. Indeed, various performance issues have been raised on distance education with Lingenfelter (2012) lamenting on the dangers of mainly measuring students’ achievement by earning minimum credits rather than authentic learning experiences. His comments aligned with higher education stakeholders’ (including distance learning) views to focus on twenty-first century knowledge and skills. Yacci (2000, p. 1) states that distance learning is “the practical subset of education that deals with instruction in which distance and time are the criterial attributes.-student and teacher are separated by distance and or time.” Virtual teaching and learning systems hold a lot of materials and are made available in virtual environments, popularly called learning management systems (LMS). Though LMS platforms have been widely used in the West, schools in developing countries appear to continue to pay lip service until the unfortunate disruption to teaching and leanring processes occassioned by COVID-19. Distance education systems continue to deliver curriculum in face-to-face mode due to lack of digital infrastructure and integration capacity to facilitate online learning; a typical case of slow technology acceptance for learning educaiton transformation. Hitherto, Africa’s educationists have no excuse for the piecemeal approach to technology pedagogical integration focusing on higher cognitive and scientific learning outcomes. Another group of learners likely to be left behind is the adult learners who have to combine personal, work, family, and community engagements with continuing education today. Invariably, open and distance learning platforms present unique avenues for their engagement across diverse geographical locations for lifelong learning. Arguably, digital learning presents convenient mode of delivering curriculum for adults that addressed global development issues. We also believe that digital inclusion will be promoted with teacher-student interaction in digital interactive systems. This will help adult learners build on global skills such as communication, critical thinking, scientific thinking, and colloaboraion.

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Distance education has been conservatively described as curriculum delivery across geographically distributed spaces by means of traditional or digital media with limited face-to-face contact and interaction between instructor and student (Ally, 2004; Oblinger, 2012). Marginalised societies due to infrastructural limitations can equally gain access to education through distributed learning platforms. However, the dangers for technology mediated teaching can even worsen the plights of the marginalised in many African societies. As development educationists continue to advocate for equality, human rights, and education for the rural poor, access to technology and teachers limited knowledge in technology pedagogical integration into classrooms can be an issue for stakeholders. Ghanaian distance education appears to be dominated by building administrative structures at strategic locations, and learning materials in hard bound copies delivered to learning centres. Worse case scenario, COVID-19 appears to have challenged such traditional delivery of learning that characterised open and distance leanring in the past. Indeed, educational systems have to focus on capacity building for virtual learning (Hodges et al., 2020). Whilst higher education continue to invest in technology acquisition for administrative, and students records managment, its integration into curriculum delivery appears to be slow. Faculty knowledge in technology appears generic at the neglect of subjectspecific ICTs use to facilitate differentiated learning and asssessment practices that develop students’ twenty-first core competencies. Online pedagogical practices, technology professional development, and multimedia training should be essential components of online pedagogical delivery for higher education in the global south based on six characteristics of distance education from technology theorists’ perspective; (i) learner and instructed separated; (ii) multimedia forms the delivery mode; (iii) individualised instruction; (iv) learner interactivity; (v) convenience of learning for the learner; and (vi) responsibility for progress of learning, pace, freedom, and time resides with the learner (Wedemeyer, 1971, p. 76). Indeed, Wedemyer’s conceptualisation of distance education advocates higher autonomy for the learner. However, Moore and Kearseley (1996) warn of placing learning autonomy in the hands of students without appropriate support systems to facilitate learning. Moore and Colleague’s admonishing are worth examining for universities offering blended learning environments. In the views of education stakeholders, online learning is more imperative for the Global South than ever with dwindling subventions to higher educational institutions, poor education quality, and struggle to meet budgetary allocations to basic education sector as dialectic on higher education appears to focus on education quality, access, inclusion, and graduate employability—all issues for development education advocates. For instance, job market watchers often bemoan poorly trained university graduates with difficulty adjusting into world of work and increasing equity values (Aryeetey & Baah-Boateng, 2007; Munive, 2008). Debates have also ranged on access to education for perceived marginalised youth due to cultural, economic, social, gender, geography, disability, and psychological differentiations. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 4 seeks to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Developing

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countries continue to promise educational freebies—free compulsory basic education, school feeding programmes, livelihood empowerment, and, free senior high school at the pre-tertiary level witnessing exponential demand for higher education. Indeed, quality university education stands to boost citizen’s economic, social, cultural, health, and psychological wellbeing and must be interrogated within the post-colonial theory and resource allocation to marginalised communities in the context of development education. The central theme of traditional schooling has been modelled on a linear and graduated scheme where leaners move from one stage to another—from pre-school to university with structured curriculum (Yacci, 2000). Indeed, the revolutionary impact of information and communication technology altering work processes and education has been documented (Laudon & Laudon, 2007); with educationists advocating innovative curriculum reforms (Anamuah-Menah, 2007). For instance, in an executive summary to the Professor Anamuah-Mensah’s 2007 Education Commission Report, Ghanaian public universities are mandated to re-examine their programmes in view of advances in knowledge and changing demands in the economy to produce highly competent human resources capable to spearhead industry and commerce (Ghana’s Education Reform Report, 2007). The 2007 Education Commission Report recommended universities to integrate ICTs into instructional delivery. The Committees’ recommendations derive its locus from the 2003 ICT for Accelerated Development Policy (ICT4AD), which also identifies the need to incorporate ICTs into educational delivery in Ghanaian schools for accelerated national development (The Republic of Ghana, 2003). With such illustrious recommendations, it expected that large number of Ghanaian populations will have achieved ICT literacy for work at all sectors of the Ghanaian economy. On the contrary, a recent household survey ICT in Ghana shows that children 5-years and older could only demonstrate generic ICT skills such as copying or moving files, sending emails, downloading, and installing software, and performing basic arithmetic in spreadsheets (National Communications Authority (NCA), 2020, p. 21). Gender disparities in ICTs skills has also been reported with 2% of women as against 5% men performing arithmetic skills on the computer; and 4% men compared with 1.7 women demonstrating programming skills (Ghana Statistical Service, 2017, p. 11); thereby raising concerns for equity and digital literacy. The low ICT skills of the Ghanaians coupled with population growth has implications for educational delivery amidst issues of global health, online learning, marginalisation, and gender disparity. The Ghana Living Standard Survey 7 (GLSS 7) report shows population growth rate of 2.5% (as at the year 2000) has been estimated to double to thirty-eight million by 2028, which is likely to impact socio-economic indices and pressure on social expenditure and education (Ghana Statistical Service [GSS], 2018, p. 37). The GLSS 7 also submits that Ghana’s population under 25 years constitutes 60% has the potential to increase demand for educational placement, which is currently limited at all levels of the educational system. Indeed, educational institutions have been agents of enculturation, however, mounting challenges confront this enculturation role since schools are cutting back on staff numbers including counsellors who are positioned to train students in academic,

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social, and lifelong skills development. Adolescents are entering colleges with inadequate social support than they had in years ago with increased morbidity, divorces rates, changing social roles and norms, increasing disparities in wealth, and fast altering career choices (Coleman, 2008, p. 49); the need to prepare learners to negotiate school and world of work has attracted the attention of school counsellors today—more so as online learners. With the integration of networked and convergence media into online learning, distance education has received a diatribe from educational technologists at the turn of the twenty-first century (Hamilton, 2016, p. 1). In Hamilton’s assessment, this contention was in reaction to the perceived expected roles new technologies were to play at difficulty cross-roads in the annals of university’s evolution within the context of budgetary cuts, dwindling state supports, rising costs, accountability, competition, increased class sizes, and emerging knowledge economy. In the views of Robert Kozma (1987) online education could be a panacea for challenging traditional dogmatic learning environments to delivery instruction anywhere/anytime with learners’ interest, needs, and cognitive styles properly managed. We recognise the support roles in distance education which comes with gender gaps, digital-divide for the marginalised communities. Hence, awareness and integration of global issues that inform teaching today. Today, digital learning seems to offer faculty and university management an opportunity to deliver lectures at reduced cost, and addressing the need for more personalised and responsive form of instruction with economy of scale achieved (Taylor, 2002). Proponents of technology reform fear that distributed learning and access to global learners could jeopardise enrolment figures of the traditional universities; coupled with the need to be competitive in the delivery of continuing faculty technology professional development (Galen, 2001). On students’ needs, others advocate learner-centred pedagogical approaches that redesignate professors as ‘coaches’ (Smith, 2002); and not ‘sages on the stage’ (Shelly et al., 2012). In view of low ICT skills for most Ghanaians, continuous training for distance education programme facilitators is more imminent with increasing global health scourge. Learners appear expectant to receive instructional materials, engage, and submit assignments to faculty through technology mediated platforms. It begs to ask, what is the level of multimedia integration literacy of Ghanaian educators for meeting learner expectations online? Despite the huge potentials of digital learning platforms, early innovators reported low achievement of learning goals since learning situations were confusing, socially decontextualised, failed to elicit learner participation, and interactivity (Feenberg, 1989); suggestive of the role of pedagogy and support systems to facilitate active learning creating the notion of classrooms without teachers. Hamilton (2016) affirms that to achieve coherence and engaged dialogic online learning, the roles and experiences of professional faculty members are needed to synthesise content, link theory to practice, integrate indigenous knowledge, scholarly traditions, historical contexts, and best assessment practices. In our view, these are ideals for quality learning in the distance education curriculum but are questioned within skills and pedagogical competencies of tutors in Ghanaian higher education system. However, the exuberance of faculty time online, device ownership, bandwidth cost, and emerging health (joint, muscle, psychological and mental) issues are also limiting factors

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impacting online pedagogy. Bringing technology to the learning environment is not the biggest achievement to be applauded. Re-engineering of education structures to accommodate global challenges ought to be a priority. Management intentionality on academic policy debates must examine credit hours, assessment practices for twenty-first century competencies, credit transfers, and faculty teaching loads must receive urgent attention in the wake of the re-adjustments to education brought about by the current global health issues. The reactive approach to the pandemic should not be hailed as African giant steps towards technology integraton in higher education but rather an admisison of failed educational leadership and planning. We have seen creepy approach to address a global health crisis at all levels of Africa’s schooling systems. Ghana was not an exception - though some of its higher institutions of learning had installed learning management systems, they appear underutilised. Without addressing contextual issues such as marginalisaton and sustainability, learning management systems (LMS) are dominating the phraseology of development education today. The use of LMS to mimic traditional learning environment has led Hamilton (2016) to label some sections of the educational narratives as evangelical discourses that bring innovation to education. Though the prophetic view of digital media as an advanced intelligent tutoring system has inspired many universities to find incredible solution to teaching and learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, these institutions are yet to access technology integration skill gaps for sustainable educational delivery. Prior to the inception of the COVID-19, several Ghanaian universities have attracted funding to expand information and communication technology infrastructure as part of their strategic plans. The expansions are within the universities strategic plans to extend education qualified Ghanaians who could not gain on-campus admission to pursue university education. With advanced computer technology today, LMS appears to challenge criticisms of lack of interactivity inherent in traditional distance education (pen-and-paper). The use of the internet to provide university education has been hailed as cost-effective access to learning opportunities for many students (Eynon & Helsper, 2010). However, some critical voices have indicated that distance education appears overly optimistic and technologically deterministic (Robins & Webster, 2002) with limited practical success emanating from host of complicated factors such as social exclusion (Selwyn et al., 2001). In the views of Gorard and Selwyn (2005), there are multifaceted reasons that relate to involuntary exclusion, equity, digital divide, gender, and structural marginalisation, and choices. Lack of access to range of ICT tools, low confidence, and low self-esteem froms learners occassioned by precarious past experiences of learning (Kirby et al., 2002) could be reasons for disengagement with online education. Despite higher education institutions investment in capacity building and ICT equipment acquisitions, there remain questions of effective technology integration from instructional designers and curriculum specialists’ as expansive approach to address development education goals in the Global South. We consider the arguments against online learning as reactionists’ views supported by traditional educational technology principles. We maintain that ethical and professional computer integration skills for the knowledge society should be addressed in order to bridge the already digital divide between

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the West-South. Above all, bringing an integrated approach to online learning can be an important solution to advancing development education’s goals that address context, indignity, and sustainable schooling. Specifically, we sought to answer to two overarching questions on the assessment of distance education tutors’ technology pedagogical integration skills for full-online facilitation during COVID-19 as: Question 1: Question 2:

What pedagogical practices are likely to inform distance educators’ digital instructional delivery in a Ghanaian higher education? What are distance education tutors ‘online technology professional development needs?

Guided by continuing education philosophy (Knowles et al., 2015) and technology integration theory (Rogers, 1995), in our reflection on adult training and technology deployment in schools discourse, the next segment outlines the methods (research design, population, sampling, instrumentation, and data analysis) adopted to explore Ghanaian distance education tutors’ pedagogical practices during the pandemic. The diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory informed the assessment of technology integration behaviours amongst varied professionals ( Yidana, 2007). Roger refers to innovation as ‘new’ (tangible or intangible); and diffusion as ‘the process’ by which an innovation finds its way into a social system. LMS appears to be ‘forced’ acceptance of massively open online teaching for faculty and learning for students. Obviously, the superior features of the computer have been acknowledged in the educational technology literature (Anamuah-Menah, 2007; Oblinger, 2012; Shelly, et al., 2012). Hence, the assumption of newness might be expressed in terms of knowledge, or decisions to adopt a tool to influence students’ performance. The choice of ICTs for improving instructional goals aptly makes Roger’s theory a preferred choice for explaining online teaching and learning strategies for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (quality education).

2 Methods and Sample Description Online questionnaires were administered to 300 distance education tutors from 11 learning centres. The University of Ghana administers distance education programme through the Department of Distance under the College of Education. The Learning Centres operate administrative structures headed by Co-ordinators with support from administrators, IT team, tutors and students support staff. Hence, online survey approach allowed us to reach respondents from the 11 learning centres due to its convenience for reaching large segment of a population with printed text (Babbie, 2010; Johnson & Christensen, 2008). However, emerging trends and adherence to social distancing protocols by nation’s health authorities are gradually strengthening the need to use digital platforms for educational and social research. Indeed, online surveys appear to challenge traditional survey designs on randomisation, and return rates due to low internet penetration, low broadband access, and device ownership for marginalised communities.

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Such challenges appear to create uncertainty in assuring representational samples for online survey (Nayak & Narayan, 2019). The 66% (n = 197) questionnaire return rate in this study is an ample illustration of online data collection. Also, we recognise the uneven gender distribution of 78% (n = 147) males; and 22% (n = 42) female participants in the survey might be illustration of gender digital gap amplified in national surveys. T. We witnessed almost even means for distance education tutoring experiences of 3 years, 7 months (M = 3.72, SD = 1.95) for males and 3 years, 5 months (M = 3.53, SD = 2.07) for females. The study recorded 88% (n = 174) second-timers; 7% (n = 14) first-timers; and 4% (n = 8) third-time participants in pedagogical integration of digital media into online distance education courses facilitatioin.

3 Instrumentation and Data Analysis Online technology pedagogical self-efficacy questionnaire measured distance education tutors’ confidence to facilitate their online course facilitation. Full online course delivery requires facilitators’ ability to use generic ICT skills such as file management, uploads, multimedia design, and web search skills. Our samples’ ability to navigate lesson modules, assessment, and discussion forum were important considerations for the LMS and pedagogical self-efficacy measures in this study. Tutors, sex, tenure on DE programme, LMS and pedagogical training, and learning centres were important demographic variables that enable us to situate the main findings in context. Exploration factor analysis (EFA) helped us to validate items measuring tutors’ instructional pedagogical practices. Factor loadings between 0.6. and 9 were recorded for the sub-scales. Based on Field’s (2009) recommendation, we retained KMOs above .5 coefficients for exploration intent. The alpha value of 0.9 was indicative of high internal consistency (reliability) of tutors’ familiarity with the integration scale for the study. Face and construct validity were ensured with the help of instructional technologies in the Colleges of Education. Descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA were used for the data analysis. Assumptions of linearity, independence of scores, normality, and equal variances were observed for the general linear model (ANOVA). Above all, ethical standards of informed consent, voluntary participation, and anonymity clauses were adhered to during the field data collection.

4 Findings Our overarching question to guiding the survey was “What categories of online instructional tools were used by tutors during the COVID-19 disruption to education? The results of the online survey of distance education tutors’ technology integration self-efficacy showed that during the locked down explored tutors’ choices of digital learning resources, technology professional development needs assessment,

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Tutors Online Instructional Tools Choice

WebX

1

Telegram

8

Telephone

75

Skype

30

Live Classroom

59

WhatsApp

110

Zoom

122 0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Fig. 1 Distance education tutors’ digital tools usage during the COVID-19 lock-down

experiences (tenure), and pedagogical practices during the COVID-19 pandemic were the emergent themes fron the study. Amongst online instructional tools available for instructional delivery, tutors from different academic backgrounds reported their preferred digital applications in this study (Fig. 1). Whilst the tutors accessed a learning management system (LMS) with full features for instructional planning, delivery, and assessment, 81.2% (n = 329) preferred video-based media with 18.8% (n = 76) opting for telephone and WebX for instructional delivery on the distance education programme. Our understanding of preferred digital tools will inform teachers’ engaging learners to create content in project-based learning. Realworld problem solving will be enhanced with teachers and students discussions on sustainable issues, experience sharing, and collaborative competencies could be assessed. Tutors’ digital tools preferences helped us to hypothesise that due to the predominant text-based mode in the traditional classrooms, teachers’ online choices will be predominantly characterised by face-to-face (videos for synchronous) process than a preference for asynchronous platforms. Based on Rogers’s (1995) diffusion of innovation (DoI) theory, our data presents interesting argument that assessment of tutors’ technology adoption levels could have been considered prior to the holistic adoption of online learning for higher education institutions. Probably, underpinned our results discussions in this study. Early adoption stage are characterised by inexperienced and low awareness groups, which might be difficult for attainment of integration literacy without continuous professional development. Therefore, we explore tutors’ technology professional development (TPD) needs in our next section.

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LMS Access, 32, 15% Online Pedagogy, 10, 5%

Multimedia Tools Use, 5, 2%

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Internet Access, 56, 26%

Technlogy Professional Development, 71, 34%

Technical Support, 38, 18%

Fig. 2 Distance education tutors’ online tutorial needs assessment outcome

4.1 Tutors’ Technology Professional Development Needs Assessment Our TPD assessment was informed by the need to adopt full online mode of instruction during the pandemic. Apparently, the adoption came with institutions’ inability to examine faculty technology pedagogical skills. Figure 2 shows that 34% (n = 71) of tutors’ indicate how many trainings they received in online educational delivery and pedagogical application of digital tools. The results depict a feature of developing economy with low bandwidth issues; and 26% tutors’ needs centred on difficulty accessing online instructional materials due to poor connectivity. Online teaching certainly is dominated by social constructivism and other pedagogical principles to account for differentiated learning and education quality. However, without adequate application of curriculum theories and philosophies, tutors are likely to be ineffective as seen with at least, 5% and 2% of the participants requesting training in pedagogy and multimedia lessons respectively. Some narratives data from the survey are used to support our TPD needs assessment of distance education tutors. For instance, a male tutor with a master of philosophy degree in adult education and teaches two courses on the programme shared, “training and provision of relevant tools to enhance teaching and learning using the technologies [should be enhanced]. Another male tutor with a master’s degree and teaches three courses required, “we should be [sic] taught how to use all or most of the apps/ Real-Time Communication tools to use for online teaching so that we can deploy the one that we are comfortable with.” Certainly, female voices on TPD are like their male counterparts by a doctorate degree holder who tutors library studies courses echoes the need for regular online training in this statement, “Once in a while we are [should be] given refresher courses both online and classroom

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experience.” Such commentaries indeed, in line with meaningful learning experiences for online training and development. At the heels of a pandemic with schools’ closure, many educational institutions in developing world were forced to shut down, learners stranded and teachers had little contacts. Such incidences could be avoided with emphasis of ICT trainings on integration literacy, in our views.

5 Distance Education Tutors’ Instructional Practices Assessment Our third objective for this study was to assess institutional efforts in the professional development of engaged distance education (DE) tutors. We used two main variables—LMS training and years of teaching experience (tenure) on the DE programme- were compared with online pedagogical knowledge for tutors. The exploratory factor analysis showed high communality scores between 0.9 (focus on student–student interaction) and 0.6 (formative assessment practices). Based on Kaiser’s (1974) recommendation of retaining factor loadings above 0.5, the communality scores offer confidence in retaining the items measuring distance education tutors’ online instructional practices and proceeded to test two hypotheses.

6 LMS, Teaching Experiences, and Pedagogical Practices First time tutors who were participating in their online training have indicated that they ‘Sometimes’ (M = 3.31, SD = 1.08) apply LMS resources in eliciting learning for students. However, 174 tutors who had once participated in a LMS training Rarely (M = 2.81, SD = 0.99) deploy online resources for pedagogical purposes; same (M = 2.55, SD = 0.45) applied to tutors with at least, twice LMS training attended. The study tested significant differences between the means of the groups who receiving LMS training on their online pedagogical practices using one-way ANOVA. With the confidence that homogeneity of variances outcome was statistically significant (Levene (2, 193) = 2.83, p = 0.06), the outcome showed a non-significant difference (F (2) = 2.02, p > 0.05) between the groups on their application of LMS resources for online instruction (Table 1). Therefore, we rejecte the alternate hypothesis that Table 1 One-Way ANOVA Results for LMS Training and Online Pedagogical Practices Sum of Squares Between Groups

3.886

df

Mean Square

F

Sig

2

1.943

2.022

0.135

0.961

Within Groups

185.491

193

Total

189.377

195

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frequency of LMS training will influence DE tutors’ integration of online tools into instructional delivery. As a follow up to Hypothesis 1 (Table 1), the study explored Distance education tutors’ years of content (tenure) delivery and their online pedagogical practices. In respect of pedagogical practices, we grouped the data from 1–2 years (M = 2.78, SD = 0.91, n = 68); 3–4 years (M = 2.99, SD = 0.96, n = 52); and 5–6 years (M = 2.68, SD = 0.97, n = 74). Tutors with 5–6 years’ experience appeared to have recorded the least mean and standard deviation scores. Consequently, we subjected the means to inferential analysis. The test of equal variance assumed was statistically significant (Levene (2, 189) = 1.83, p = 0.16). The outputs revealed that the study failed to reject the null hypothesis that distance education tutors’ years of experience will differ significantly from their knowledge on online instructional pedagogical practices (F (2) = 1.72, p > 0.05). Based on the significant testing, our preliminary conclusion appears to favour the position that online tutors’ pedagogical knowledge in the application of digital resources appears to be a challenge for quality online educational delivery and offer views from instructional technology, and curriculum development perspectives, and development education using Rogers’ (1995) DoI theory in the discussion of the key findings.

7 Discussion and Recommendations Meaningfulness of what must be learned should be a focus of education (Nsamenang & Tchombe, 2011). From instructional technology perspective, the current study appears to ignite the desire to adopt integrated approach in technology professional development that support effective integration of development issues and learning in the Global South. The continuous focus on generic ICT training where participants only learn the features of the tools will not support the attainment of integration literacy. From our perspective, higher educational institutions have heavily invested in IT infrastructure with policy frameworks backing integration strategies. Particularly, buying computers, expanding bandwidth, and training. However, it appears that training programmes in most institutions are championed by technical IT staff with little involvement of instructional designers and educational psychologists. Indeed, technical staff role in system maintenance has been recognised in the educational technology literature. What is not known is their pedagogical knowledge to relate ICT tools to teaching and learning. A case in point is the report from the current study’s participants who attended learning management system trainings; yet they have difficulty integrating technology into pedagogy. Our position is line with Al-hassan’s (2014) conclusion to an ICT in education survey for basic schools that the Ghana’ Information and Communication Technology for Accelerated Development (ICT4AD) policy has not been adequately implemented due to unavailability of ICT equipment for teaching and learning and pedagogical perspectives. Though Al-hassan’s commissioned study addressed ICTs in Ghanaian basic schools, his findings on weak ability of male and female primary and junior high school teachers to

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teach and research with computers is instructive for development educationists and curriculum specialists. Teacher professional development has constantly engaged attention of the global partners in the context of a global pandemic and Sustainable Development Goal 4—a quality education for all by 2030 (UNESCO, 2019). But curriculum experts have also questioned the nature of continuing professional development and in-service training about its top-down needs assessment; characterised by unclear planning strategies; aim at career initiatives; and little consideration for value for money (Glover & Law, 1996). A 2012 ICT ecosystem analysis in Ghana had over 70% Internet users with 44.5% reported school usage (Frempong, 2012). The views of Glover and co might be in consonance with the current study that despite different trainings in learning management, tutors still had low scores on pedagogical application of digital tools. By extension, lack of involving instructional designers and curriculum specialists to relate theory to practice could have accounted for such low confidence in the use of online resources and basic teachers’ inability to integrate ICTs into Ghanaian classrooms. We can explore the current results within the context of diffusion of innovation theory (Rogers, 1995) as well. Newness means a drastic approach to altering existing processes. Ghanaian educational system has depended on the traditional classroom settings, a relic of the colonial education with grammarian curriculum. Several education reforms have attempted to provide competency-based curriculum with challenges (Anamuah-Menah, 2007). We believe that the ICT4AD policy and the new National Council for Curriculum Assessment (NaCCA, 2018) curriculum all geared towards ICTs integration for the pre-tertiary. A comprehensive assessment of tutor professional development, curriculum reform, and contextual issues contributing to marginalisation and widening digital divide will make a difference with innovation adoption in online curriculum delivery for Ghanaian distance education as well. The household survey on ICT skills that the Ghanaian is still consigned to generic ICT skills (National Communications Authority [NCA], 2020) should remind educational technologists to design technology integration literacy training for educators across all levels of the Ghanaian educational system. We conclude that the field development education has often used advocacy to highlight issue of the marginalised, and education quality. However, pedagogical integration of digital media presents complimentary perspective the achievement of sustainable development goals for low-income countries. Teacher’s pedagogical technology integration literacy should be seen by stakeholders in development education as either likely to bridge or widen the gender gap or further alienate structurally marginalised citizens from the Global South if adequate attention to teachers’ skill gaps are not advocated. Therefore, we recommend that educational institutions in developing countries must be intentional about tutor professional development programmes with budgetary allocations. Instructional designers should lead training programmes and apply curriculum and learning science theories to the delivery of professional technology training. Similarly, there should be a point system to recognise tutors’ technology professional development to help distance education institutions adequately

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prepare for online instructions. These recommendations based on enormity of online instructional delivery such as faculty time, investment in technology, and learning new technology skills. Since most distance education tutors prefer video-based instructions, there should be investment by the institution in training tutors in innovative multimedia skills, preparation and use of low technological digital tools, and integration of low-cost technology for effective online content delivery; however, with focus on interactivity as principle for online courseware development. Since online tutors’ pedagogical knowledge in the application of digital resources appears to be a challenge for quality educational delivery there is the need to constantly train, monitor and evaluate tutors’ pedagogical knowledge in the application of digital resources.

References Al-hassan, S. (2014). Availability and use of ICT in teaching and learning. Connect for Change Education Ghana Alliance. Ally, M. (2004). Foundations of educational theory for online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (pp. 3–31). Athabasca University. Anamuah-Menah, J. (2007). 2007 Educational reform report. Ghana Printing Press. Aryeetey, E., & Baah-Boateng, W. (2007). Growth, investment and employment in Ghana. International Labour Organization (ILO). Babbie, E. (2010). The practice of social research. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Bullivant, A. (2011). Global learning: A historical overview. In H. Gadsby, & A. Bullivant, Global learning and sustainable development (pp. 6–24). Francis & Taylor. Coleman, H. L. (2008). Student accomplishment: Equity and the school counsellor’s role. In H. L. Coleman & C. Yeh (Eds.), Handbook of school counseling (pp. 49–62). Taylor & Francis. Eynon, R., & Helsper, E. (2010). Adults learning online: Digital choice and/or digital exclusion? New Media & Society, 13(4), 534–551. Feenberg, A. (1989). The written word: On the theory and practice of computer conferencing. In R. Mason & T. Kaye (Eds.), Midweave: Communication, computers, and distance education (pp. 22–39). Pergamon Press. Field, A. (2009). Discovering statistics using SPSS. SAGE Publications Ltd. Frempong, G. (2012). Understanding what is happening in ICT in Ghana: A supply- and demand side analysis of the ICT sector. IDRC. Galen, N. V. (2001). Throwing down the gauntlet: The rise of the for-profit education industry. In B. Lewis, R. Smith, & C. Massy, The tower under siege: Technology, power, and education (pp. 11–28). Mcgill-Queen’s UP. Ghana Statistical Service. (2018). Ghana Living Standards Survey: GLSS7. Ghana Statistical Service. Ghana Statistical Service. (2017). Ghana multiple indicator survey. Ghana Statistical Service. Ghana’s Education Reform Report. (2007). Meeting the challenges of education in the twenty-first century. Ministry Education. Ghana Publishing House. Glover, D., & Law, S. (1996). Managing professional development in education. Kogan Page Limited. Gorard, S., & Selwyn, N. (2005). Towards a learning society? The impact of technology on patterns of participation in lifelong learning. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 26(1), 71–89. Hamilton, E. C. (2016). Technology and the politics of university reform: The social shaping of online education. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.

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Hodges, C., Moore, S., Locke, B., Trust, T., Bo, & Bond, A. (2020). The differences between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause review, 27, 1–12. Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed approaches. Sage Publications Inc. Kaiser, H. F. (1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39, 31–36. Kirby, J., Knapper, C., Maki, S., Egnatoff, W., & Mell, E. (2002). Computers and students’ conceptions of learning: The transition from post-secondary education to the workplace. Educational Technology and Society, 5(2), 47–55. Knowles, M. S., Holton, E. F., III., & Swanson, R. A. (2015). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development. Routledge. Kozma, R. B. (1987). The implications of cognitive psychology for computer-based learning tools. Educational Technology, 27(11), 20–25. Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2007). Management information systems: Managing the digital firm (10th ed.). Pearson Education Inc. Lingenfelter, P. E. (2012). The knowledge economy: Challenges and opportunities for American higher education. In D. Oblinger, Game changers: Education and information technologies (pp. 9–23). Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial No Derives 3.0: EDUCAUSE. Moore, M. G., & Kearseley, G. (1996). Distance education: A systems view. Wadsworth. Munive, J. (2008). The army of ‘unemployed young people.’ Young, 18(3), 321–338. National Communications Authority (NCA). (2020). Household ICT survey in Ghana. National Communications Authority. National Council for Curriculum Assessment. (2018). National pre-tertiary education curriculum framework for developing subject curricula. NaCCA. Nayak, M. S., & Narayan, K. A. (2019). Strengths and weakness of online surveys. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 24(5), 31–38. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2405053138 Nsamenang, B. A., & Tchombe, T. M. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of African educational theories and practices: A generative teacher curriculum. Human Development Resource Centre (HDRC). Oblinger, G. D. (2012). Game changers: Education and information technologies. Under licenced by Creative Commons: EDUCAUSE. Robins, K., & Webster, F. (2002). The virtual university? knowledge markets and management. Oxford University Press. Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). Free Press. Selwyn, N., Gorard, S., & Williams, S. (2001). Digital divide or digital opportunity? The role of technology in overcoming social exclusion in US education. Educational Policy, 15(2), 258–277. Shelly, G. B., Cashman, T. J., Gunter, G. A., & Gunter, R. E. (2012). Teachers discovering computers: Integrating technology and digital media in the classroom (4th ed.). Thomson Course Technology. Smith, N. (2002). Teaching as coaching: Helping students to learn in a technological world. Educase Review, 38–47. Taylor, J. C. (2002). Automating E-learning: The higher education revolution., (pp. 19–5). Retrieved from http://cs.emis.de/LNI/Proceedings/Proceedings19/GI-Proceedings The Republic of Ghana. (2003). The Ghana ICT for accelerated development (ICT4AD) Policy. Ghana Publishing House. UNESCO. (2019). SDG 4 data digest: How to produce and use the global and thematic education indicators. UNESCO. Wedemeyer, C. (1971). Independent study. In L. C. Deighton (Ed.), The encycloppaedia of education (Vol. 4, pp. 548–557). Macmillan. Yacci, M. (2000). Interactivity Demystified: A structural definition for distance education and intelligent CBT. educational technology, 40(4), 5–16. Yidana, I. (2007). Faculty perceptions of technology integration in the teacher education curriculum: A survey of two Ghanaian universities. Ohio University. Retrieved December 7, 2015.

Chapter 10

Oil Production, Dispossession, and Community Development in Africa: A Development Education Perspective Boadi Agyekum , Pius Siakwah , and Isaac Kofi Biney

Abstract There is growing evidence that the impacts of oil and gas extraction on vulnerability are real and accelerating. Coupled with a host of interrelated livelihood sustainability questions, this has fueled interdisciplinary research on improving livelihoods to vulnerability, as well as to better understand the mechanisms of natural resources exploitation and policy options to limit the socio-cultural and environmental damages to natural resource extraction. Increasingly, development education, community education, and alternative livelihood sources are being leveraged by researchers when analyzing these problems. There is, however, limited discourse regarding the possible synergies that could result from improved engagement between those interested in natural resource extraction on one hand, and community members and researchers on the other hand in tackling resource extraction issues. In this chapter, we employ the accumulation by dispossession discourse espoused by David Harvey that focuses on the prospects for making new contributions to the growing literature on natural resource exploitation and vulnerability. We identify three critical issues that offer significant opportunities for collaborative studies on the nexus between natural resource extraction and development education: (1) the problem of oil exploitation and vulnerability, (2) questions of new alternative livelihood and transition, (3) development/community education and livelihood opportunities approach. Our analysis suggests that issues of development agenda/plan, decentralization of windfall revenues, sector analysis on policies and programs and other development education initiatives underpin these natural resource extraction research needs. This chapter is intended to foster new dialogue between oil exploitation and development education. B. Agyekum (B) · I. K. Biney School of Continuing and Distance Education, College of Education, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] I. K. Biney e-mail: [email protected] P. Siakwah Institute of African Studies, College of Humanities, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_10

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Keywords Oil · Oil production · Community development · Development education · Dispossession discourse · Natural resource

1 Introduction Natural resources, including oil and gas have been instrumental in socio-economic development globally despite some challenges associated with the extractive industries. Industrialised countries such as Canada, Australia, Finland, Norway, the United States, and among others have utilised their natural resources in addition to other resources to propel their development. Oil windfalls are also being used to transformed countries like Kuwait, Qatar, United Arabs Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia. In Africa, Botswana has also utilised its bauxite to aid its development efforts. Despite of the seeming positive impacts of the extractive industries in development, in most of the developing world, natural resources exploitation has had detrimental effect on development outcomes. The negative relation between natural resources abundance and economic growth and other development indicators is referred to as the ‘resource curse’ (Auty, 2001; Watts, 2003). Within the resource curse discourse, natural resources such as oil, are viewed as posing risk to development while increasing the vulnerability of countries, communities, and people. The rising development vulnerability experienced with exploration of oil globally, and especially in the developing countries has become the concern of governments, transnational companies, development experts, and the academia. Neoliberal policies on natural resource extraction have led to the processes of social stratification and class formation in Africa (Murombedzi, 2016). In Africa, the cause of vulnerabilities is mostly rooted in the historical processes of production and distribution, whereby colonial dispossession, particularly in settler colonial societies has led to enclosures, created poverty, and exacerbated inequalities (Boone & Moyo, 2012). Neoliberal policies associated with the imposition of new forms of resources ownership and control occasioned the creation of inequalities and vulnerabilities in Africa. The continent of Africa, renowned for its attractive natural resources is incorporated into the global economy as a source of raw materials. This ushered the continent into a series of enclaved economies, structured around the control of natural resources and their supply to the colonial centres (Murombedzi, 2016). These enclaved economies became centres of exportation of raw materials, including agricultural commodities and oil and gas. The effect of this type of arrangement through the capitalist’s mode of production led to a fragmentation in the African labour market, where Africans were disproportionately underrepresented in the formal labour force. For example, Kanyenze and Kondo (2011) reported that this pattern of production became entrenched in many colonial societies in Africa, which bothered on the ideology of white supremacy, leading to a formal employment of only one-fifth of labour force. It is also evidence that for most post-independence African governments, there exists centralised authority over natural resources extractions but with the support of transnational companies that have the capital and technology to

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exploit these resources. This suggests that there is a degree of neoliberal development trajectory across Africa, creating unstainable exploitation of natural resources, and further exacerbating the historical trends of inequalities and exploitation. Most visions of a sustainable future foresee a turn toward development education, but it is a change that will not come without a struggle. Development education, according to the Irish Development Education Association (IDEA, 2014), and O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018), is a diverse and deliberate educational intervention which takes place in a wide range of settings, with a great variety of participants, but designed to address global justice and sustainability issues. They add that because of the diverse nature of the field, it defiles a universally accepted definition. However, the IDEA (2014) sees development education as supporting people in understanding, and acting to transform the social, cultural, political and economic structures which affect their lives and others at personal, community, national and international levels. Considering the activities and operations of extractive industries, especially those in the oil and gas industry, their operations have huge impact on the livelihoods of community members in the catchment communities. Not only that, but their operations equally have impact on national and international economies, especially with reference to investment and repatriation of profits. The point really is that many of such companies are multinationals, and the local economies where they carry out operations do not benefit that much from their activities. Hence using community education as a strategic tool to address the concerns and worries, especially of the local people in the catchment communities where the operations of the oil and gas companies take place, is really laudable and important. Vulnerability through oil production is a case in point in questions being raised about how oil production changes livelihoods and increases vulnerabilities in Africa (Siakwah, 2018). The impact of oil however manifests differently across space and time and policy responses will also differ. Vulnerabilities, such as poverty, inequality, pollution, and violence that are present in certain locations where oil is exploited are sometimes missing in other spaces. For example, while abject poverty is more relatively prevalent in some of the oil rich economies such as Nigeria, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea, these are less visible in Europe, Canada, the United States (U.S.), and part of Asia. Similarly, inequalities that are globally present, such as material deprivation and dispossession, vary spatially in terms of prevalence and severity of impact due to spatial differences in access to education, employment, and governments support. For example, due to poverty and other factors, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been more severely impacted by oil exploitation since either oil windfalls are mismanaged by politicians or exploited by transnational companies to the disadvantage of national governments and local communities. Local communities have limited mechanisms to hold the political and transnational actors and institutions accountable on how to use the windfalls to the benefits of the populace. A person’s risk of exposure to poverty varies with their social context, including levels of education and employment, environmental factors, and neighbourhood characteristics. These features are indicative if people or communities can be easily disposed-off by extractive industries, even from a resource that is located in their communities, and thus have implications on their wellbeing and the communities. When communities or people are marginalised

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in the allocation of natural resources, it dispossesses them of their resources for development. The accumulation by dispossession framework provides for an analysis of the uneven geographical distribution of vulnerability and poverty. In its most basic form, the framework, which owes its conceptual origin to David Harvey (2003, pp. 137– 182), argues that neoliberal state policies facilitate “accumulation by dispossession.” It involves private capital accumulating more profit by unfairly dispossessing those who originally own these resources. This happens through deregulation, privatisation, commercialisation, and commodification that (re)produce displacement, impoverishment, and environmental destruction—neoliberal policy subjects that produce specific socioeconomic outcomes and configuration (Brenner et al., 2010; Smith, 2015). These factors or actors play out differently in different places, giving rise to distinct exposures of vulnerability. In this chapter, we discuss accumulation of dispossession framework and how it is used in examining geographic variation in vulnerability and development in oil rich regions of Africa. Drawing on examples relating to oil production in Africa, dispossession, vulnerability, and changing livelihood and community development, we argue for a broader understanding of the oil industry and development in Africa. The main argument is that through the dispossessing of countries and communities off their oil resources by transnational companies, vulnerabilities become more pronounced. Siphoning of natural resource windfalls from communities increase their vulnerabilities. We begin our analysis with a brief discussion of how oil production contributes to vulnerability, followed by an examination of the concept of accumulation by dispossession. The chapter concludes by providing the context of changing livelihood and community development and calls for education and training as central and unifying elements in addressing these wide-ranging difficulties facing catchment communities in oil-rich enclaves in Africa.

2 Vulnerability in Oil Production in Africa In this section, we examine the common elements of vulnerability in oil production by focusing on the social, political, economic, and ecological vulnerabilities that are manifested in oil rich economies. Vulnerability seems to capture the most significant change in Africa’s oil production landscape over the past four decades as most of the oil rich countries on the continent have not experienced the socio-economic changes and advancement that are anticipated with oil exploitation. As a concept, vulnerability refers to “a human condition or process resulting from physical, social, economic and environmental factors, which determines the likelihood and scale of damage from the impact of a given hazard” (UNDP, 2004). For several years now, transnational oil companies, governments, development practitioners, researchers, and local residents have debated the social, economic and environmental costs of oil production (Kark et al., 2015; Ugochukwu & Ertel, 2008). Social commentators, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have decried the higher social,

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economic and environmental injustices associated with oil exploitation (Watt, 2003; Ross, 2003). Some regard oil exploitation in places such as the Niger Delta and its impacts on livelihoods and environment as a tragedy since it has destroyed the very basis of livelihood in these communities. Whilst others have defended oil exploitation as providing some socioeconomic opportunity for accelerated development (ObengOdoom, 2015), others view oil as detrimental to development (Watt, 2003; Auty, 2001). Thus, we may even take a drastic perspective that the oil should be left in the oil until the countries have enough capabilities and governance system to exploit it to their benefit. The dramatic rise in vulnerability experienced since the beginning of oil exploitation in Africa and other part of the developing world became the focus of local and international organisations and the academic community. Oil production control comes centrally in this debate because it disrupts livelihoods and local ecosystems and, in so doing, contributes to vulnerability. Findlay (2005) defines vulnerability to include the social, political and economic processes through which people and place become exposed to shifting states of vulnerability over time (see also Dooling & Simon, 2012). Before going into details about the processes of oil production and vulnerability, we should clarify the point that some oil producing countries have experienced war, violent conflict or vulnerability due to the competition for the control of these oil resources. For example, it was reported that the Iraq war was driven not by the fiction of weapons of mass destruction, but by the fact that the country swims on a sea of oil (Wright, 2003). Weapon of mass destruction discourse is used a ‘smokescreen’ to invade Iraq. Again, after the prediction by the then Vice President Dick Cheney (2001–2008) that Africa would become the fastest growing source of oil for the American market (as much as 25% of US import by 2015), there was a report by the Wall Street Journal that the Pentagon, in the most radical deployment of American forces since the end of the cold war, moved troops to ‘protect key oil resources’ in Africa. These are important to understanding the processes of oil control and vulnerabilities, and also to comprehend the continuing imposition of restrictions on spaces for the purpose of farming, fishing and other livelihood activities controlled largely by the people who lived in the oil producing regions (Siakwah, 2017). While vulnerabilities manifest in other parts of the world, West Africa is a useful illustration of oil production vulnerability, as the West African oil states have recently been considered high privileged area than, for example, Iraq and Venezuela where Al Qaeda attacks and larger canvas of crisis respectively, are on ascendency (Watt, 2003). In January 2002, the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies provided a forum for the Bush administration to declare that African oil is ‘a priority for US national security’ (Watt, 2003, p. 8). Oil production is key to national development in some of these states, such as contribution to GDP, as in the case of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Ghana, supporting access to education, health care, and other social supports (UNDP, 2019; ISODEC, 2014). However, the production of oil also brings vulnerabilities, including poor sanitation (oil spillage), conflict and dispossession of peasant farmers, changing livelihoods, and pollution (Siakwah, 2018; Ross, 2003; Watt, 2003). Changing urban landscape, conflict, and resettlement can all be negative outcomes of oil production. But for the purposes of this section of the paper, we focus

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on vulnerabilities in agriculture, environment/ecology, governance, and education and employment. Agriculture productivity and food security, and industrial development challenges are sometimes exacerbated by oil exploitation. Generally, Africa’s economy relies heavily on agriculture produce, but the sector has been significantly affected with the exploration of oil over the years (Martinez et al., 2007). Government failure to invest in agriculture due to reliance on other natural resources, including oil, and drop in commodity prices negatively affect economies (Auty, 1993). Exploration of oil can become harmful for countries when it leads to crowding of funds, capital and labour from the industrial sector of the national economy (Ross, 2012). Windfalls from oil exports lead to appreciation of the local currency which makes local products (traded goods and services) less competitive in the export market (Sachs & Warner, 1997, 2001). Sachs and Warner (1999, p. 61) noted that a resource boom can stall industrialization or lead to de-industrialization of an economy where booms in the resource sector draws away resources from the tradeable sectors and reduces the scale of economic activity and profit in other sectors of the economy. Locals that trade in the other sectors of the economy become vulnerable in terms of income and livelihoods as their activities are negatively impacted. Gelb (1988) noted that Nigeria and Ecuador’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors deteriorated due to oil boom in those countries, which led to policy shifts that focused on the oil sector to the neglect of others. Besides oil industry’s effects on increasing the vulnerabilities of other industrial development, a country’s agricultural sector can also decline, be neglected or become more vulnerable due to the discovery of oil. For example, in Equatorial Guinea, oil boom has not translated into revitalisation of its cocoa, coffee, or the food sector (Oliveira, 2007) since the government is more focused on the oil than the other sectors of the economy. The agricultural sector produces below capacity due to limited investment in the sector as most investments are directed into the oil industry. Farmers and their dependents become vulnerable as their incomes decline and unsustainable to meet their livelihoods needs. Gary and Karl (2003, p. 29) noted that Gabon in the 1970s and 1980s epitomised a classic case of Dutch Disease and an ‘enclave economy’, due to the lack of linkages between its oil sector with other productive sectors. Gabon became dependent on food imports where even common fruits like banana had to be imported from France due to the impact of the Dutch Disease and limited incentive for the people to engage in agricultural production despite its huge land and forest (Ghazvinian, 2007). Even as of 2007 when Gabon was running out of oil, 60% of its food products was still imported (ibid.). Oliveira (2007, p. 74) argued that Gabon remains a caricature of food dependency, while Equatorial Guinea’s oil boom has neither helped it to revitalise its agricultural sector, instead, it has resulted in increased food importation. Nigeria’s agricultural sector also remained poorly developed as the country derived about 95% of its foreign exchange earnings and 65% of total revenue from crude oil in 2015. These limited revitalisations of agriculture sectors expose the livelihoods of those engaged in the sector.

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Oil exploitation, production and related activities often also cause environmental and ecological vulnerability. In developing economies, where the economic potential of oil and the political power of elite stifle ecological and conservation concerns, are particularly vulnerable (Coghlan, 2014; Stinson, 2014). For example, oil exploration in the Niger Delta has negatively affected biodiversity, where oil spills and gas flaring have damaged biodiversity, destroyed mangrove forests, contaminated beaches, coastal birds, endangered fish hatcheries, and disrupted food webs (Ugochukwu & Ertel, 2008). As Kark et al. (2015) argued, even in economies with strong environmental regulations, production spill, burst pipelines, and tanker spills have negatively affected the environment, wildlife and livelihoods. In exploring the impact of oil exploitation on fishing and women in coastal communities along the western coast of Ghana, Ackah-Baidoo (2013) argued that sea weeds that developed partly as a result of the oil industry negatively affected the volume of fish catch and local livelihoods. There are also pollutions and destruction of local livelihoods in the Dixcove areas of the Western Region of Ghana due to pollution and seaweeds (Siakwah, 2018). This has negatively affected the incomes and living conditions of local fishermen and fishmongers in those areas. An important and contentious issue in creating employment within the oil industry is that high growth rate associated with the industry has not often directly translated into substantial poverty reduction, while economic over-dependence on windfalls had some adverse impacts on generating limited employment for the youth (AckahBaidoo, 2016). In view of high market returns that are derived from oil windfalls during boom periods, there is rent-seeking in the sector by the elites to gain high profit. But when the state or individuals capture already existing revenue, especially from natural resources like oil without creating new wealth, they are engaging in rent-seeking (Ghazvinian, 2007). Though rent is a legitimate human action based on ones’ right to a particular natural resource, it becomes a problem where rent from public resources is not used for the public good or where rent seeking discourages investment of other sectors of the economy (Steven, 2003). Persistent rent seeking behaviour in the oil industry discourages entrepreneurial development as it becomes cheaper and more profitable to earn income from the oil industry than businesses, such as industry and innovation that involve more risk (Sachs & Warner, 2001). Rent from oil can discourage development of entrepreneurial skill in a country since people concentrate their efforts on how to win political power or join the elite so as to have access to the rent instead of using their knowledge and skills to create wealth from other sectors (Auty, 1997, 2001). Gylfason et al. (1999) and Gylfason (2000) suggest that countries that invest less in education due to the presence of natural resources experience lower innovation and entrepreneurial activity, poor governance, and growth. In the presence of abundant natural resource rent, people are attracted to the sector to earn windfalls instead of devoting their resources and ability to creating wealth through entrepreneurial skills. There are also governance and institutional weakness vulnerabilities that are manifested in oil-rich economies, especially in the developing world. How natural resource windfalls mediate and are implicated in institutional deficiency, poor governance, and economic performance in resources rich economies (with some exceptions such as

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Norway, Australia, the US, Chile and Botswana) has been the focus of the resource curse analysis (Mehlum et al., 2006; UNDP, 2011). To Bruckner (2010), oil resource rich countries are characterized by corruption and weak checks and balances in political decision-making. These weaknesses limit the country’s ability to grow, create economic opportunities in terms of employment and income for the citizens, increasing the vulnerabilities of these countries. In spite of these negative socioeconomic and environmental effects of oil, studies on the subject have revealed that the industry has being instrumental in the provision of social services. But notwithstanding these contributions, land use, land cover and livelihoods in oil production areas in Africa have been somehow altered drastically. Researchers recognise that natural resources extraction, such as oil and economic development serve to illustrate the circular relationship between exploitation and vulnerability. Coghlan (2014) and Stinson (2014) believe that the exploitation of communities and incidence of vulnerability are examples of mutual causality. The World Health Organisation’s Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH), thus, states that the toxic combination of bad policies, economic, and politics is, in large measure, responsible for the fact that a majority of people in the world do not enjoy the good health that is biologically possible (CSDH, 2008). The following section involves a review of theoretical conceptualisation of the linkages between exploitation and vulnerability.

3 Accumulation by Dispossession The earliest work on forms of dispossession has been traced to German philosopher Karl Marx (1976) and David Harvey (2003) who wrote of the capitalist’s mode of production and the production of vulnerabilities in society. While Marx is credited with developing the concept of “primitive accumulation” (Luxemburg, 2003; Marx, 1976; Roberts, 2017), David Harvey, an “Economic Geographer”, shaped the concept of primitive accumulation into a basic operational logic across geographical space (Brenner et al., 2010), embodied in the socio-spatial transformation of “primitive accumulation”, which he termed “accumulation by dispossession.” Marx in his ‘Capital Volume 1’, analysed the labour process in which commodities and surplus values are produced within capitalist society—the process of “expanded reproduction.” Marx recognised the origin of the surplus gains through capitalist accumulation, which he termed “primitive accumulation.” For Marx, primitive accumulation “is a historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production, transforming the social means of subsistence and production into capital, and immediate producers into wage labourers (1976, p. 714). Harvey’s approach sought to highlight Marx’s theory of primitive accumulation to consider the ways through which dispossession occurs in present-day capitalism in its varied forms (Mukherji, 2019; Swamy, 2018). Accumulation by dispossession is an amplification of primitive accumulation espoused by Marx in a way to understand diverse contemporary dispossessions that take sector-specific and across

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space and time, and its contribution lies more in the expropriated, such as the land (Levien, 2015). For Harvey, Marx precisely highlights processes of capital accumulation “based upon predation, fraud, and violence”, however, inaccurately envisions them to be exclusively features of a “primitive” or “original” stage of capitalism (2003, p. 144). Harvey successfully codified the processes and mechanisms that facilitate capital accumulation through enclosing new forms of property and existing enclosures (Bumpus & Liverman, 2008; Prudham, 2007). It provides a compelling framework for understanding the role of dispossession in oil extraction and the diverse ways in which power is deployed to secure dispossession over space and time. He offers a theoretical framework for understanding new imperialism, where neoliberal policies through privatization most often become fundamental strategies of accumulation by dispossession, which Harvey argues as an absolute “enclosure of the commons” (2003, p. 145). Harvey’s examples of accumulation by dispossession include the expropriation of land and natural resources from peasant populations, the conversion of common or state property into private property, the privatisation of collective social assets (such as pensions, healthcare and other social entitlements), and the various predations of finance capital. In the Africa context as elsewhere in the world, oil production is a clearly a natural resource of socioeconomic significance, and its privatisation in or control by transnational corporations is a clear illustration of accumulation by dispossession. Sometimes however, national oil companies are used to accumulate the oil resources by the state. It explores the question of how the ordinary citizens are disposed and further marginalised, which Harvey, following Marx, theorises as a process of anatomisation of “the molecular process of capital accumulation in time and space” (2003, p. 26). Harvey’s main argument is to ground our understanding of inequalities and vulnerabilities within the Marxian theory of primitive accumulation. The implications of neoliberal policies, which seek to shape and control institutions and the social relations that command production, extraction and accumulation (see Akram-Lodhi, 2007) are not without counterinsurgencies. Peasant and vulnerable populations are not passive recipients, but active shapers of the natural, built and social environments. Some launch law suits and others demonstrate in front of government offices, and engage in direct action at natural resource production sites (see Barry, 2012; Fisher, 2012). This is part of “environmentalism of the poor” with “a material interest in the environment as a source and a requirement for livelihood” (Martinez-Alier, 2002, p. 11). Several development scientists studying nature–society relations have challenged the mainstream dispossession narrative of a widespread dispossession of vulnerable populations (Allen, 2004, 2011; Hall, 2013), continuous historical processes of dispossession (Glassman, 2009), under-theorisation of the deeply political role of states in orchestrating dispossession (Levien, 2013), underemphasises the most significant aspect of land dispossession, such as the political process in which owners of the means of coercion transparently redistribute assets from one class to another (Levien, 2015), and also critical assessment of Harvey’s work on dispossession that considers its intellectual and political problems is missing (Das, 2017). Notwithstanding these criticisms, the accumulation by dispossession narrative still guides

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the production of natural resources and the resulting vulnerabilities of the population in some part of the world including Africa (see Benjaminsen & Bryceson, 2012). In the next section, we present some examples of how accumulation by dispossession and vulnerabilities played out in a few specific places, changing the livelihoods of the affected communities and populations. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but they provide examples of different ways that dispossession affect communities, the land, and vulnerable populations.

4 Changing Livelihood and Community Development The energy industry, [especially oil and gas] is essential to nearly all economic and human activity, and lies at the heart of both opportunities and challenges faced by the world today (Meli, 2019). The oil and gas production is strategically important since the second half of the twentieth century (OPEC Fund, 2019). They are the most important source of energy, and the largest internationally traded commodity. In 2011, Nigeria alone produced about 2.53 million barrels per day (bbl/d) of crude oil, and 1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of dry gas, out of which it exported approximately 2.3 bbl/d of crude oil and 17.97 million metric tons (875 Bcf) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in 2011 (Okoh, 2006). This made Nigeria the 5th largest exporter of LNG in the world (Okoh, 2006). However, Nigeria which was heavily dependent on agricultural export of twelve (12) products, including cocoa, oil palm, groundnut, cassava, rubber (natural), cotton, yam, fish and shrimps now has the value of these non-oil exports been on the decline ever since. These products, hitherto, accounted for over 70% of total export between 1960 and 1970 (Okoh, 2006). Nigeria’s share of agricultural products as total export declined from 84% in 1960 to 1.8% in 1995 (Okoh, 2006). This demonstrates that the effect of oil and gas industry continues to be dire in the SSA region, especially amongst the oil and gas rich producing economies. Again, the oil and gas industry has negatively impacted on the socio-cultural life of people in the catchment communities of oil and gas industry. For instance, in Ghana, the operations of oil and gas industries have created an occupational shift for some of the citizens. Indeed, it first led to migration or movement of the young adults, largely engaged in agricultural activities in the rural communities, to the ‘oil city’, Sekondi-Takoradi in the western region of Ghana (Siakwah, 2017). The aim of the movement, essentially, is to seek for employment, which are largely non-existent. Thus, the occupations of the people in the catchment communities before oil and gas production were largely fishing and farming, but these are trying to change to the oil and gas sector without the necessary skill sets. It is not surprising, the greatest social threat, especially amongst the young adults today, is excruciating poverty in the catchment communities, creating and causing occasional disturbances since the jobs they hope to get are not there in the first place. Ghana, for instance, earns not more than 30% of the overall oil and gas revenue from the three commercial wells operated by multi and transnational oil and gas companies. This is against the backdrop of the

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increased oil revenue made by oil and gas producing companies. The worst part of the policy governing the oil and gas industry is that the investors have the right to repatriate about 70% of the earnings from the industry to their countries. Such crucial issues and developments, including low revenue from the oil and gas industry by some of the host countries in Africa, dispossession of wealth, vulnerabilities of the community members coupled with deprivations in the catchment communities, and loss of livelihoods have created huge burdens for both the citizenry and governments in sub-Saharan Africa region. Indeed, poverty and unemployment affect a lot of the young adults in the communities. Meanwhile, with roots in the social reform and social movement traditions, and with newer influence from business models for innovation and performance, community development works to strengthen places and improve the lives of people in them (Briggs, 2007). To the researchers, investment in the natural resources in the communities is not to deprive the community members from their livelihoods. Rather, it is to make the host communities more thriving, vibrant and sustainable. A case in point is Johannesburg in South Africa, where gold production has made it one of the richest cities in Africa. Essentially, community development aims to improve the lives of community members by engaging the people in driving the process of change. Thus, community development strives for change, but that change should be one for better improvement of the lives of the citizenry. After all, places where people live have profound effects on their economic and social outcomes (Brown & Baker, 2019 cited in Biney, 2021). For example, preventing local fisher-folks from fishing beyond certain nautical miles, coupled with pollution of the sea and water bodies that kill fish stock with toxic chemicals amounts to depriving the local people of their sustainable livelihoods. Many of the oil and gas companies are not matching their operations with equal amount of investment in alternative livelihood programmes for the community members in the catchment communities. This is a worrying trend, and governments in the oil and gas rich countries in Africa have to collaborate and partner more to come up with policies for the oil and gas industry. When such policies are developed and implemented, it will improve living conditions of the community members, and make not only the communities richer and sustainable, but the economies of the oil and gas countries in Africa richer, vibrant and sustainable.

5 Discussion: Towards Education of Vulnerable Populations—Development Education Perspective A growing literature emphasises the importance of incorporating development education in order to holistically address the needs of vulnerable populations (Ansell et al., 2020). The concept of development education first emerged in the United Kingdom (U.K.) during the 1970s, in response partly to the growth and development of aid organisations and the decolonisation process (Bourn, 2008), and through the influence of UNESCO and the United Nations (Harrison, 2006). In 1975, the UN

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defined it as “concerned with issues of human rights, dignity, self-reliance, and social justice in both developed and developing countries. It is concerned with the causes of underdevelopment and the promotion of an understanding of what is involved in development, of how different countries go about undertaking development, and of the reasons for and ways of achieving a new international economic and social order” (United Nations, 1975, quoted in Bourn, 2008). But both governmental and nongovernmental organisations have integrated policies that are predominantly characterised by neo-liberal agendas of the World Bank, IMF and Western governments (Adepoju, 2008; Beauchemin, 2011). These measures have had enormous impact on Africa’s economic, political situations and population movement (Steel & Lindert, 2017). From the above account, it is obvious that development education should be part of the natural resources development policy agenda at all levels. Collaboration between local oil communities has a vital role in promoting sustainable growth and vulnerabilities reduction. And resilience through planning for alternative livelihood through education and training, drawing on social, political and financial capital to mobilise immediate relief efforts, and supporting the communities in longer-term education after corporation-deployed aids or sponsorships are gone (Gasperini & Acker, 2009; Ryan, 2013). Even if alternative livelihoods are provided by capitalist mode of production, majority cannot work because capital simply does not require labour in these new enterprises (Li, 2017). Extending evidence for vulnerability as inherent in dispossession, the concept of development education explores the tangible realities of how, when, where and under what circumstances vulnerable populations may find relief, considering alternative livelihood. Whether it involves highly educated or less educated populations, developed or less developed nations, vulnerability to natural resources extraction is inevitably tied to specific places. The behaviour of key actors—government and transnational corporations create vulnerable environments that weaken or undermine people’s resilience and result in poor livelihood and health. For example, in a study, Katz (2011) described how boys in rural Sudan are displaced from meaningful, survival futures in agriculture, they thus cast as ‘waste’ the training gained from their upbringing failing to bring rewards to them or their communities because the livelihood skills they have acquired cannot be profitably employed. Government and NGOs who are concerned with improving the lives of vulnerable populations have frequently recommended developing the vulnerable through education and training for sustainable livelihoods (Brown et al., 2012; Dyson, 2019). Transnational corporations in individual communities have also become more aware of changes in livelihood regulations, and have played direct roles in these development education efforts. While specific education and training vary greatly based on vulnerability and individual characteristics, changing livelihood through education and training enable locals to persevere in the midst of difficulty and develop a transcendent perspective about their vulnerability through social interventions, including skill training. Thus, amidst destruction of livelihoods, vulnerable people can buffer potential distress by drawing on alternative livelihoods provided through education and training within their communities.

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Basically, because of human insatiable exploitation of non-renewable natural resources, current growth cannot be maintained. Based on this, scholars such as McKeown et al. (2002) have argued that only education and training can provide the pathway to sustainability. The Rio Earth Summit of 1992 resulted in Agenda 21, the key agreement for action. Chapter 36 of the Agenda 21 agreed on the promotion of education awareness and training: education, including formal education, public awareness and training should be recognised as a process by which human beings and societies can reach their fullest potential. Education is important for promoting sustainable development and improving the capacity of the people to address environmental and developmental issues (Agenda 21, Chapter 36, p. 3). The UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development emphasised education for sustainable development as a teaching and learning approach, which engages with key concerns of human development including human right, sustainable livelihoods, poverty eradication, climate change, gender equality, and corporate social responsibility (Huckle & Wals, 2015). In a similar vein, the Bonn Conference (2009) reiterates a number of interventions, such as ‘reinforcing the educational response to sustainable development challenges, developing and building capacities for adapting to change, sharing knowledge and experience, reinforcing synergies between different education and development initiatives (WCESD, 2009, p. 8). The above major conferences focus on education for sustainable development to help address the many priorities and issues and make development stable and preserve social, economic and natural resources. As an example, a study conducted in three African countries, namely, Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania show that transformation in agricultural production systems creates a range of additional rural non-farm labour opportunities for local people, which in turn stimulate positive socioeconomic dynamics in the countries (Steel & Lindert, 2017). It is our contention in this chapter, however, that a deliberate development education is crucial for a number of reasons: First, it is considered as a primary way individuals acquire knowledge, skills and competencies that can influence their adaptive capacity; second, it is significant way for poverty alleviation and as an alternative livelihood effort; third, it works on the premise that development education is not neutral but political, which carries for assumptions and ideas about the future of society; finally, it proceeds from the assumption that the design, promotion and implementation would enhance knowledge on vulnerabilities, risks and how to respond to such vulnerabilities. As an example, how oil causes or reinforces vulnerability in communities should be part of the community education. Collaboration amongst stakeholders is critical to development education. Community engagement on oil driven vulnerability is lacking in most African oil rich economies. This will help host communities appreciate the various impacts of oil and gas industry—positive and negative. It would lessen the hope of local communities of the potential fortunes from oil. Vulnerability awareness associated with education thus could contribute to vulnerability reduction. Again, this should be understood as a contested political project rather than a mere issue for technocratic debate about efficiency. When considering vulnerable population and alternative livelihoods, it is crucial to recognise that the effects of oil production on vulnerability are ambiguous, because

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vulnerability is more complex than often represented for African oil production landscape (see Siakwah, 2018; Watt, 2003; Ross, 2003). Although we indicate specific vulnerabilities to exemplify homogenisation of vulnerability, the effect could also be interpreted to suggest that vulnerability differs in age, gender, education, income and other factors (Muttarak & Hitz, 2014) and educational policies might respond differently to populations if vulnerabilities differ, even subtly, between communities. Keeping in mind this complexity, studies examining relationship between vulnerability and education might reflect particular approaches to study the effect of education on vulnerability reduction.

6 Conclusions and Recommendations The overarching goal of this chapter is to examine how to bridge the gap between natural resource extraction and the concomitant production of vulnerability among people and places. How might we situate these entanglements of inequalities and vulnerabilities within the unified field of natural resource exploitation in Africa? It is fruitful to conceive their confluence within the framework of development education, where a range of experiences in alternative livelihoods, such as in technology, renewable energy and new regulatory governance. In addition, a total overhaul of the extraction industry, where a social structure of accumulation that places economic justice over profit, and the institutionalisation of inclusive, sustainable mode of growth (Tabb, 2012) is recommended. To that end, we have examined the ways in which focusing on development education can highlight common threads in natural resource extraction and vulnerability studies. We have drawn from Harvey’s framework of accumulation by dispossession to further emphasise the emergence of vulnerability patterns in the developing world context. Accumulation by dispossession analysis is a useful framework for examining sociocultural-environmental change and the associated production of vulnerabilities over time and space. Thus, this chapter has sought to demonstrate the looping production of vulnerabilities in oil production societies across space, with reference to African countries and raises issues about how vulnerability conditions are generated and responded to (Simon & Dooling, 2013). To this point, this chapter has established vulnerability in oil production in Africa as a geopolitical issue. Vulnerability is an important but complex concept in oil extraction societies. Based on our discussions, we offer recommendations directed toward decisionmakers in government, social services, and education. Strategic and bold initiatives are required to implement development agenda in order to reduce vulnerabilities in the oil industry. First, we recommend the integration of windfall revenues into the development plan of the oil regions using examples from Argentina and Columbia (Vasquez, 2016). The decentralisation of windfall revenues from the central government to the producing region will help accelerate development in those areas (Ross et al., 2012). It asserts that when government is closer to the people, community participation will be enhanced (Blair, 2000). Although transferring oil resources to

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the local communities does not guarantee they will be spent well (See Ross, 2012; Collier, 2010), studies have shown that failure to translate oil revenues into benefits for the local population resulted in popular discontent in producing areas (Vasquez, 2016). Secondly, we recommend setting up specialised institutes for sector analyses, policies and programmes. Government should work with educational institutions to create innovative ways of more fairly evaluating vulnerabilities in oil production and developing knowledge and skills that will lead to employment in other sectors. Third, we recommend the transformation of technical vocational education and training (TVET) to make it more relevant to local population and labour market needs. The development education initiative has made significant contributions to improving vulnerable populations’ livelihoods and the potential to improve public policy decisions. Collaboration in the manner amongst stakeholders including governments, transnational corporations, nongovernmental organisations and local residents on vulnerability assessment can facilitate knowledge sharing while improving the applicability of vulnerability measures in most often a pragmatic policy endeavour. Collaborative agenda involving developing education policies that could bring together stakeholders attention to spatial analysis of natural resources extraction, and extractors’ focus on how changing livelihood patterns have an impact on particular groups, and local communities. In addition, this could be accomplished by incorporating a development agenda perspective in a livelihood opportunities approach, such as we have seen in work by Naude (2012) and DeJaeghere and Baxter (2014). Finally, research that looks at vulnerability can draw from dispossession’s attention to marginalisation and development education’s interest in the role of public policy and education in constructing exclusive and inclusive groups via natural resource extraction. By collaborating through this educational framework, we hope that a more inclusive society could be evinced between governments and transnational corporations on one hand, and development education proponents on the other hand. While such collaboration clearly has its challenges, we view this as an important step towards challenging and refining the future direction of development education that concerns how skills and resources are transformed into livelihood opportunities and choices.

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Steel, G., & van Lindert, P. (2017). Rural livelihood transformations and local development in Cameroon, Ghana and Tanzania. IIED. http://pubs.iied.org/10811IIED. Accessed January 25, 2021. Stevens, P. (2003). Resource impact: Curse or blessing? A literature survey. Journal of Energy Literature, 9(1), 3–42. Stinson, J. (2014). Mother nature’s best kept secret? Exploring the discursive terrain and lived experience of the ecotourism-extraction nexus in Southern Belize. In B. Buscher & V. Davidov (Eds.), The ecotourism-extraction nexus: Political economies and rural realites of (un)comfortable bedfellows (pp. 88–109). Routledge. Swamy, R. (2018). Fishers, vulnerability, and the political economy of dispossession and reconstruction in post-tsunami Tamil Nadu. Individual and social adaptations to human vulnerability. Research in Economic Anthropology, 38, 103–126. Tabb, W. K. (2012). The restructuring of capitalism in our time. Columbia University Press. Ugochukwu, C. N., & Ertel, J. (2008). Negative impacts of oil exploration on biodiversity management in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria. Impact Assessment & Project Appraisal, 26(2), 139–147. UNDP. (2019). Beyond income. Beyond averages. Beyond today: Inequalities in human development in the 21st Century. UNDP. Accessed January 15, 2021. http://hdrundp.org/sites/default/ files/hdr2019.pdf UNDP. (2011). Managing natural resources for human development in low-income countries. WP 2011–002, December 2011, Regional Office for Africa. UNDP. (2004). Reducing disaster risk a challenge for development, a Global report. Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery. UNDP. UNESCO. (2008). EFA Global monitoring report 2009. Overcoming inequality. Why government matters, UNESCO. Vasquez, I. P. (2016). Four policy actions to improve local governance of the oil and gas sector. International Development Policy, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.2227 Watts, M. (2003). Economies of violence: More oil, more blood. Economic and Political Weekly, 38(48), 5089–5099. WCESD. (2009). UNESCO World conference for sustainable development. Bonn. Wright, G. (2003). ‘Wolfowitz: Iraq War was About Oil’. Guardian, June 4, 2003.

Chapter 11

Rethinking Professional Researcher Involvement in Community-Engaged Evaluation Research: A Case of Adult Education in South Africa Akwasi Arko-Achemfuor

and Norma R. A. Romm

Abstract This chapter revisits issues related to how professional researchers situated in academia can work alongside research participants as part of the evaluation of Development Education interventions. Our notion of professional researcher involvement in community-engaged research (for the benefit of participants and stakeholders) draws on transformative and Indigenous paradigms for social research. We offer a practical example set in the adult education arena, with reference to our experience in organizing what can be termed a development evaluation of the South African national Kha Ri Gude campaign, which ran (nation-wide) from 2008–2016. “Kha Ri Gude” means Let us Learn in TshiVenda (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa). The campaign was aimed at engendering “literacy plus”—that is, literacy plus life skills to participate more fully in economic, social and political life of the participants’ communities and the nation as a whole, while resonating with the United Nations Millenium Development Goals (UN. (2000). United Nations millennium declaration. UN. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from http://www.un.org/millennium/ declaration/ares552e.pdf). We focus in the chapter on how we used the research-andevaluation process to try to be of assistance in various ways to foster and strengthen the positive impact of the campaign. The discussion is set in relation to the involvement of the two authors of this chapter in several field visits to two provinces in South Africa, namely, Kwa Zulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. Keywords Developmental research · Development evaluation · Facilitating education as change · Indigenous research paradigm

A. Arko-Achemfuor · N. R. A. Romm (B) Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa A. Arko-Achemfuor e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_11

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1 Introduction O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) point out that the concept of Development Education (DE) implies organizing educational processes consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations (UN, 2015), which “advocate that all learners will have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development” (2018, p. 1031). Such educational processes are “deliberate educational interventions, which all address global justice and sustainability issues” (2018, p. 1031). DE is thus associated with a quest within a country to organize educational processes that are likely to improve the socio-economic lives of the beneficiaries as well as of the wider community and society, and indeed offer contributions to global SDGs (which extend the UN’s, 2000 Millennium Development Goals—MDGs). It involves the commitment to promote education at all educational levels to enable people to works towards addressing collective challenges which limit the attainment of the SDGs. O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) ask the question, “What is the impact of intentional development education [DE] interventions?”. They address this question based on their review of 44 selected papers in the field, all dealing with assessing the impact of interventions towards education for sustainable development in various geographical contexts. O’Flaherty and Liddy were particularly interested in the question of whether the assessment of the impact of educational interventions to date included a concern with whether “activism for social and economic change [were] included in performance measures and studies of impact” (2018, p. 1032). They point out that “the fundamental questions on our economies, politics and social choices are often left without answers [in educational processes], leaving students feeling overwhelmed, dejected and cynical about their efficacy to make change” (2018, p. 1032). And they suggest that thus far the measures used by evaluators of impact of DE often do not concentrate sufficiently on “measuring” or rather, assessing, this aspect of DE. They surmise that this could be because the evaluators tend to use what they deem to be “measurable” indicators of impact, which often do not tap into learning outcomes which point to more long-term goals, such as activism on the part of learners. According to O’Flaherty and Liddy, it is important for us as researchers/evaluators to raise epistemological questions regarding our own processes of “knowing” as adopted during the research. They state that it became clear to them while examining the 44 papers that “many papers reviewed failed to present a clear account of the values and beliefs of the researcher/educator, and displayed a reliance on a positivist epistemology” (2018, p. 1044). They suggest that alternative epistemologies and alternative methodologies need to be brought to the fore in measuring/assessing impact (This is consistent with the point made by Stromquist, 2008, p. 90, regarding the importance, in the field of adult literacy research, of including the less measurable political activities that might be consequent to adult education literacy programmes— such as the forwarding of social inclusion and social capital). In this chapter we extend the arguments of O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) by offering an account of how impact can become evaluated while the evaluation itself

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serves to offer additional opportunities for activism. We focus in the chapter on an example of an evaluation of a national adult education process/programme organized in South Africa. O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) do not refer to examples in Africa and nor do they refer to the epistemologies and methodologies as propounded by Indigenous scholars—that is, scholars from Indigenous communities prior to colonization (as explicated by, for example: Adyanga, 2012; Chilisa, 2012; Moahi, 2020; Msila, 2017). On this basis we extend O’Flaherty and Liddy’s argument by exploring in some depth how evaluation can fulfil a “Made in Africa” (MAE) approach (Chilisa, 2015; Chilisa & Mertens, 2021; Chilisa et al., 2015). Chilisa (2015) in her synthesis of the “genesis and evolution of the MAE Idea”, suggests that the approach can be traced back to a shift in the 1990s towards “making evaluation culturally appropriate” (2015, p. 7). What this implies for us is that Development Evaluation (as evaluation of DE) needs to focus on efforts by researchers as evaluators to become involved, as a matter of ethics, in working with local participants to enhance the initiatives and impact of DE processes (cf. Arko-Achemfuor et al., 2019; Chilisa & Mertens, 2021; Romm & Dichaba, 2015). Such evaluation involves researching the impact of DE initiatives in such a way that the research itself is potentially transformative in that it aids the process of activating development goals. This is by enabling research participants, with professional researchers, to continue the spirit of learning towards activating “development” (as defined). Patton (2011) explains, considering the term “development evaluation” more generally (and not only in relation to educational interventions), that the term invokes the injunction to create a collaborative dialogue between the evaluator(s) and the stakeholders who are “most deeply involved with the evaluation” (Patton, 2011, p. 13). Now we suggest in this vein that when those involved in evaluation efforts explore the impact of educational processes, the implied premise, which can be made more explicit, is that DE and attendant actions should not simply follow models of education and of development as initiated in Western societies. Instead, the idea is that educational processes can help to resuscitate the ways of knowing and the values originating in Indigenous contexts before colonization (Chilisa, 2020; Chilisa et al., 2015; Moahi, 2020; Ndimande, 2018). Evaluation of DE needs to bear in mind this intent. Chilisa and Mertens make the point that because Made in Africa (MAE) evaluation is “built on the [Ubuntu] principle of motho ke motho ka batho (a person is a person because of others, I am because we are), MAE has no boundaries between Africa and the rest of the world” (2021, p. 5). By this they mean that ideas, values, and ways of knowing generated in Africa can be brought into relationality with, and hence contribute to, global thinking around the purpose of “development”. An MAE evaluation which incorporates the ethical position that relationality between humans and between human and other forms of existence needs to be furthered, can well offer new visions for development than those associated with Western models of development as “growth”, which often do not give sufficient consideration to development as overall wellbeing (Adyanga, 2012; McIntyre-Mills, 2014; Ramose, 2020). That is, they do not give sufficient attention to social and environmental wellbeing alongside economic considerations. Chilisa and Mertens (2021, p. 5) citing Ramose (2020), state that “the evaluator has an obligation to promote the transformation of all humans

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and the physical world (Ramose, 2020)”. Ramose argues that in terms of what he calls Bantucracy (based on African ethical principles of Ubuntu), “a human being proper is one who acknowledges relationality with being as a wholeness. This imposes the obligation to recognize, respect, protect, and promote life in all its manifestations, including the sphere of human relations” (2020, p. 261). The case discussed in this chapter is an example of doing development evaluation in terms of these obligations in relation to an adult educational programme. It was an evaluation of a national South African adult education literacy programme called Kha Ri Gude (KRG), which ran from 2008 to 2016 and which targeted 4.7 million adults who had been left behind due to the apartheid system (see Addae, 2021; McKay, 2018a, b, 2020; McKay & Romm, 2019 for details). “Kha Ri Gude” means Let us Learn in TshiVenda (one of the eleven official languages of South Africa). The campaign was aimed at engendering “literacy plus”—that is, literacy plus life skills to participate more fully in economic, social and political life of the communities, country and the global world. As explained by McKay and Romm (2019, p. 372) the “literacy plus” initiative here resonates with the United Nations MDG and SDGs, and also focuses on how notions of Ubuntu can be seen to imply a responsible stewardship of the commons (our common environment, including all of life). In this sense the KRG campaign goals were in keeping with the work of African writers who have stressed our obligation to treat nature with respect (e.g., Osuji, 2018). Osuji indicates that many African scholars have “showed interest in the implications and import of indigenous African thought and values for environmental ethics” (2018, p. 185). In tune with this “interest”, the three dimensions that were used to guide materials development (the curriculum) in the South African KRG campaign were: social issues; environmental issues; and economic issues (McKay & Romm, 2019, p. 337). While the KRG campaign clearly sought to embrace an environmental ethic in the sense defined by Osuji, this is not to say that all national initiatives in South Africa are equally committed to fostering ecological wellbeing as a specific goal, especially if a concern with the wellbeing of nature is seen as generating “risks” for economic development. As Romm and Lethole (2021) note, the narrative in the White paper on climate change (2012) “refers mainly to the ‘risks’ for the economy – which in effect means for those who largely benefit from [capitalist-oriented] ‘business as usual’”. The concentration on “business as usual” is also lamented by McIntyre-Mills (2014) in her book entitled From Wall Street to Wellbeing. In this political context, the KRG campaign was directed to strengthening, via the educational initiative, an Ubuntuinspired conception of an inclusive approach to Development Education, including the triple bottom line of social, environmental and economic dimensions as the path to “development”. We concentrate in the chapter on how we intended that the evaluative research could itself contribute to being world-shaping in the direction of enhancing such development. The intention for research (including evaluative research) to be world shaping rather than attempting to be world mirroring has been endorsed by many scholars—Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike (Bowen, 2015; Chilisa, 2012, 2020; Cram & Mertens, 2016; Gergen, 2015, 2021; Kovach, 2009; Rix et al., 2019; Romm, 2018; Stanton, 2008; Tlale & Romm, 2019). However, this intention fits very closely

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with an Indigenous ontology and epistemology (onto-epistemology) which suggests that as “knowers” (researchers) we cannot take distance from the world of which we are a part (See Romm, 2020). Indeed it is argued within an Indigenous paradigm of social research that epistemic violence is perpetuated insofar as professional researchers try to adopt an attitude of taking distance, instead of becoming committed, with research participants, to making a difference to the quality of life as experienced (Chilisa & Mertens, 2021). Community-engaged research thus means that (professional) researchers indeed become engaged/committed to working with others who become co-researchers towards knowing with a view to forwarding life-enhancing development (Gergen, 2021; Tlale & Romm, 2019). As part of our discussion of the case, we provide some detail of the ways we also sought to be of assistance (upon request of the participants) through our skills sharing in offering our “professional” experience in relation to certain requests that emerged. We also refer in the course of the chapter to how, as researchers, we understood the importance of realizing research as “ceremony”—respecting the spiritual practices which became part of our encounters with participants (via prayers initiated by them). We refer to this as it touches on debates around introducing spiritual discourse in the academy (Wane et al., 2014). We indicate why not shying away from such discourses implies that many “ways of knowing” and being together with participants become part of our engaged scholarly practice. Overall, we report on the concept of reciprocity between ourselves as researchers and the participants and on the ways the participants showed their appreciation for the services we rendered to them as professional researchers for them to be able to apply the literacy and numeracy skills they had gained for livelihood. We as researchers were assisted in doing our researcher work while we learned about the cultural practices and some of the indigenous knowledges of the communities.

2 Some Background to the Kha Ri Gude Literacy Campaign McKay and Romm (2015, p. 438) indicate that since the introduction of democracy in South Africa in 1994, … the post-apartheid South African government has promulgated a suite of policies and legislative frameworks to support adult basic education and affirm its role in the process of social change and development. There has been an acceptance that adult literacy and basic education are essential for development because they enable adults to expand their life choices; this is particularly so for those who have had no or little basic schooling.

Addae (2021) makes a similar point when he notes that: Upon the attainment of democracy in South Africa in 1994, the Department of Education was fraught with many challenges, paramount among them, was how to take responsibility for making basic education accessible to all, that is, children, youth and adults.

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Addae (2021) goes on to note that “in order to arrest the high rate of illiteracy among the historically disadvantaged groups in the population, there was the need to embark on massive conscious, formal and non-formal educational drives”. He states that a “notable drive” in this direction was the establishment of the South African National Literacy Initiative (SANLI) in 2000, which later became extended and developed into the Kha Ri Gude (KRG) Campaign (2008–2016). The KRG South African Mass Literacy Campaign was launched in 2008 against this backdrop, with the intention to address backlogs of illiteracy (McKay & Romm, 2015, p. 438). In order to direct the Campaign towards a developmental agenda, the KRG Campaign was organized around workbooks with themes that ensured that issues related to the United Nations MDGs were presented across the curriculum. The curriculum was executed for learners who attended classes for 240 h over a period of six months. There were specific lessons on health, HIV/AIDS, gender, democracy, human rights and environmental awareness. McKay and Romm (2019, pp. 376– 378) explain in detail how the SDGs of 2015 tie in with the UN MDGs (2000) and resonate with the way in which the KRG workbooks were thematized. McKay (2012, p. 5) further indicates that the KRG campaign was intended to redress historical imbalances while contributing to development, “both personal and socio-economic”. It was also hoped that it would provide people with the basic foundation for lifelong learning and to equip them with the skills and critical capacity to participate fully in the society (McKay & Romm, 2015). The KRG campaign, under the guidance of McKay as CEO and her team, was built around the theoretical stance of ensuring a break with what Torres (2002, p. 3) calls a “conventional deficit rationality “which fails to accord equal status to “developing countries” (countries situated in “the South”) when designing learning approaches and evaluations thereof. Merriam and Kee (2014, p. 141) likewise indicate the importance of connecting literacy to wellbeing as defined at personal and community levels. They note that the wellbeing framework “contends that formal, nonformal, and informal learning activities of older adults promote an active and engaged lifestyle that helps create and preserve community” (2014, p. 128). McKay and Romm cite in this regard the evaluation of KRG done by UNESCO (2016), which refers to the way in which the KRG campaign fostered community cohesion and peaceful co-existence through its creation of learners’ groups which brought together people with a common goal and vision for themselves and their communities (McKay & Romm, 2019, p. 375). This is consistent with the research conducted by Addae (2016), where data generated from in-depth interviews with various participants brought to light that “the programme had facilitated significant changes in their social lives as evidenced in an enhancement in their (1) literacy and numeracy skills; (2) health awareness; (3) community involvement/decision making; and (4) contribution to community welfare and wellbeing. From these findings, Addae acknowledges that the programme had led to “far-reaching qualitative changes in the lives of the participants” (Addae, 2021). With this background in mind, we now turn to the way in which we took part in the evaluation of the KRG campaign, based on various visits that we undertook to two provinces between 2013 and 2015.

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3 Our Development Evaluation of KRG: Deliberations on Our Intent Our development evaluation on which we report in this chapter was part of a wider evaluation of the KRG campaign which also involved other colleagues from the University of South Africa’s Adult Basic Education (ABE) Department. The ABE Department’s evaluation was undertaken across three out of South Africa’s nine provinces: The Eastern Cape, Kwa Zulu Natal, and Limpopo. While we ourselves played a major role in designing the ABE evaluation and organizing its processes, we ourselves visited only two provinces out of the three that were assessed in this evaluation, namely, The Eastern Cape and Kwa Zulu-Natal. We focus in this chapter on how we interpret the purpose and import of the evaluation based on our experiences (2013–2015). We indicate how we tried to forward a relationship of reciprocity with the participants and other stakeholders in line with Indigenous paradigmatic principles founded on the ethics of developing relationality across the board and assisting community/societal “wellbeing”. As stated by Romm and Dichaba, the research design as a whole incorporated various methods, viz: focus group sessions with past learners and volunteer educators (VEs); interviews with KRG supervisors and coordinators; visits to projects undertaken by KRG graduates (with VEs and/or coordinators who are also involved); analysis of sections of learners’ assessment portfolios; and analysis of some government-collected data pertaining to, for example, geographical regions, and learners’ ages, gender and employment status. (Romm & Dichaba, 2015, p. 226)

In addition, McKay, as CEO of the campaign from 2008–2012, had access to extensive “big data” that she collected during the running of the campaign and subsequent to this. In her article entitled Learning for Development: Learners’ Perceptions of the Impact of the KRG Literacy Campaign (2020) she notes that she and her team analyzed. … the responses obtained from a sample of 485,941 literacy learners to a 24-item instrument which sought to establish learner perceptions of the benefits (or lack thereof) of their participation in the literacy campaign. The high rate of positive responses showed that the majority of the learners perceived the campaign to have benefited them with regard to their feelings of self-confidence, their ability to participate in community matters, increased understandings of health issues, increased involvement in income generation, technological abilities, as well as in increasing their appetite for lifelong learning. The quantitative findings were triangulated with the findings of the learner interviews conducted with [a range of] learners. (Abstract to the article, 2020)

McKay also notes that the data that were sought during the campaign were not sought only as a finding out exercise, but helped to (re)direct the campaign to ensure that it would be meaningful for the learners, also by sharing relevant data with educators through monthly meetings arranged by co-ordinators (See in this regard McKay, 2018b). Our approach to the evaluation too was intended to use the research process in an active way to foster transformative potential. In all our engagements with the

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various participants (learners, VEs, co-ordinators, members of state agencies and also NGOs whose work supplemented the campaign) we facilitated a “knowing” endeavor that might assist the community and other stakeholders in further transformative efforts. Due to our wishing to forward/revitalize knowledge creation as a collective process of together defining realities (in line with Indigenous visions of knowing— see, for example, Ossai, 2010; and Arko-Achemfour et al., 2019) we considered the focus group method (which involved primarily the past learners/graduates) to be very important as the start to our evaluative research. We thus started with this method, and did follow up visits for additional focus group discussion while also arranging some one-to-one interviews and meetings with other stakeholders and arranging additional community meetings. What we also wish to highlight is that in all of the collective meetings in which we took part (including the focus group sessions), the sessions always began and ended with a prayer, on the initiative of some community member(s) who began and ended the meeting this way (more or less spontaneously). We learned from the participants the importance to them of invoking spiritual values in all meetings. An example of a starting prayer from a Focus Group session held in Kwa Zulu Natal is as follows (translated by facilitator Dr. Joyce Dhlamini, from isiZulu): Let us love Him and Praise Him day by day. Haleluya, Haleluya how great is Jesus love. We are invited today. To come to Him.

The prayer that ended this session was as follows: Thank you Lord Jesus for everything that you have done for us We thank you for Your love you have shown to us, Thank you for these great people you have sent to us, We know that it is for Your love that they are here, Be with them God as they leave this place, Be with them as they go back to their homes, God, let all what we have spoken about here, our requests be accepted by the authorities through Your will, grace and love, God, help us as they will leave us to be motivated to study hard to further our education, Because we can see that things will be fine if we have patience and determination, We also thank our teacher who is so passionate about us, She also has love for us and tolerance on us although sometimes we are not good, Give her more patience for us, Lord Jesus we thank all this in Your name AMEN

Wilson (2008) in his book entitled Research is Ceremony (2008), likewise emphasizes that research can incorporate spiritual ideas, values and practices, which have tended to be excluded in mainstream research (as noted also by Wulff, 2010). We

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would suggest that the praying process helps to (re)establish a spiritual connection between all the participants, including the professional researchers, and invokes positive values to be forwarded. For example, in the first few lines above, the prayer implores that the professional researchers should continue their care for the participants and the community by speaking to “relevant authorities” (which in our case meant arranging some meetings with state departments and NGOs while also assisting in other ways, as explained in the next section). The prayer also invokes the learners’ motivation to be committed to “furthering our education” and to acting with “patience and determination”. The prayer finally thanks the teacher and thus helps to strengthen the sense of human relationality/connectivity while expressing thanks and appreciation. Notably, we learned from the participants what we remarked upon in our Introduction—namely, that “measurement” of DE impact misses the mark insofar as it gives insufficient attention to what may not be quantifiably “measureable”. This came to light from how the various participants in our study regarded social and political participation as forwarding community care and community relationality, as expressed in many of their indicating (via the focus group sessions) how their involvement in KRG had led to these community “achievements”. That is, in answer to our questions regarding social participation (see for example question 2 in Appendix A), they gave examples of how they had helped others in the community since participating in the KRG campaign. Ways in which they had helped others in the community was, for example: helping them to read the script of their medicines; assisting with the homework of the children of adults who had not yet benefited from the adult education initiative; setting up a crèche for children and sharing the KRG workbooks with them as a guide to learning; and assisting in the creation of school gardens based on their learning about this in the KRG classes. Notably, the gardening was done without artificial fertilizers—to help preserve the environment. Also, the participants had learned about recycling in the KRG classes and this also manifested in actions that they now undertook as small business entrepreneurs with a sense of care for the environment: for example, they showed us how they were recycling plastic to make usable goods such as shoes, hats, table mats, and cell phone holders—which some of them were involved in producing by sharing these skills with one another. Alongside this they also showed us how they had set up co-operative enterprises, e.g., in gardening, and baking, by helping one another as learners to develop/strengthen these skills. While they were “answering” our questions and also showing us their projects, it could be said that they reinforced for one another their sense of connectedness to one another and their sense of being-in-community. Examples of their participation in community meetings which they mentioned to us as “political participation” included expressions mainly from women during the focus group sessions of how they felt more confident to raise their concerns— where beforehand they did not feel comfortable to mention these as they felt they were not well “respected”. They considered that participating in KRG had afforded them more community respect. Some of the men also expressed that their selfconfidence too had increased. These (qualitative) “results” were all consistent with

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the evaluations performed by other researchers using various combinations of mixed methods approaches (cf. Addae, 2016; Hanemann & McKay, 2015; UNESCO, 2016). Meanwhile, from our perspective, the advantage of the focus group sessions was that participants could together reflect upon what they considered they had learned via the campaign and could thus deepen their understandings of its relevance for them and for their communities, while they could also raise with us as facilitators issues for further actions where they felt we might offer assistance. The focus groups functioned as a more or less informal mechanism for participants to feel at ease to participate in relation to the questions we posed to them (see Appendix A for our starting questions) and to hear and add to one another’s responses. We recognize that our questions were not “neutral” in content, as they were intentionally offered as a guide to encourage participants to reflect upon issues we brought to attention. We also made provision for participants to comment on any extra issues to which they wished to draw attention. In the next section we continue our deliberations concerning possibilities for professional researcher active involvement with communities by highlighting some of the ways in which we further offered some assistance (on request of the participants). Of course, we do not expect our specific involvements will apply as is for other cases, as engagement needs to be responsive to local considerations.

3.1 Some Examples of Our Skills Sharing to Improve the Quality of Living In this (sub)section we elucidate some of our further involvements which arose during the course of the research and evaluation, in response to what we interpreted as significant needs as expressed and discussed with those whom we encountered, where our skills could be of assistance. We outline how we: i) ii) iii)

iv)

set up sessions in which we shared our skills in creating funding proposals for businesses and projects which participants were trying to establish and expand; shared our professional content knowledge of managing business projects (in participative learning encounters); became involved in linking participants with some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state agencies such as the Small Business Development Agency (SEDA); and acted as mediators to some extent in liaisons with the national government at the point at which the campaign was being “ended”/reconfigured.

As indicated in our discussion in previous sections, the main purpose of the evaluation was to assess the impact of the campaign on the lives of the participants with limited provision for intervention in our project proposal. However, from the first visits that were made to all the three provinces by various members of the evaluation team (KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Limpopo), the participants passionately requested for us to assist them on how they could further improve their lives from

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the basic education and skills they had acquired from Kha Ri Gude. They told us and also showed us projects, businesses and other community programmes they had initiated as well as the desire by some of the graduates to pursue further studies. We noted that there has been transformative learning that had taken place in the lives of the graduates which is in line with Freire’s (1972) conscientization concept as they had begun to be aware of their circumstances and their environments. Furthermore, Freire was of the view that learning to read for adults should be a process in which content and materials had to have a bearing on their daily reality; and that a study of their concrete social reality should lead to critical awareness of the possibilities for action and change (Freire, 1970, 1972, 1974). Similarly, Pickett (2016) notes that through critical reasoning, adults examine their habits of mind and points of view where this process results in learners’ values becoming justifiable, and ideally more inclusive, open, and emotionally capable of change. They were asked what Freire (1972) referred to as “problem-posing” questions on how they could use their education to improve their lives, families and communities; where they could access further education or ABET classes; the support structures available from government and other agencies that could assist them in the initiatives they had undertaken; and what we could do as researchers with our institution in addressing their developmental needs. We agreed to assist where we could offer assistance in line with the reciprocity principle that the researcher-participant relationship has the potential to be reciprocal, a relationship in which each contributes something the other needs or wishes for (Trainor & Bouchard, 2013, p. 986). We as researchers needed the participation and views from the participants to do our evaluation whilst the participants needed assistance in building capacity in establishing and expanding businesses and social projects. We assured them that we had the capacity to offer business and project management training; proposal writing workshops; and marketing skills to them. In relation to point (i) above, we honored our promise the following year (2015) and organized a couple of training and capacity building workshops for the participants. Through the training we provided, and with our assistance in regard to creating funding proposals for the funding of projects, some of the proposals that were prepared enabled some of the projects to secure funding from the private sector such as Toyota South Africa; ROTARY Club as well as securing a contract by one of the cooperatives in the Eastern Cape to supply vegetables on commercial basis to SPAR. We contend that this is in line with the concept of strengthening DE as suggested by O’Flaherty and Liddy (2018) in that the concept of DE implies organizing educational processes consistent with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations (UN, 2015), which “advocate that all learners will have the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development” (2018, p. 1031). The basic education the KRG graduates obtained is helping them to develop themselves, families, and communities and we believe that through our own (limited) involvement in the development evaluation we contributed to this. In relation to point (ii) above, in response to participant and co-ordinator requests, we organized additional training in all the provinces in business development. This was because most participants had emphasized to us in our various encounters with them that they needed skills enhancement in this area. In organizing the training

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(assisted by the co-ordinators) we also tried to strengthen their understanding of the importance of social entrepreneurship—that is, doing “business” with social aims and also with environmental awareness, so that the profit motive is not valorized above motives of “wellbeing” for people, the community, and the whole of life (Arko-Achemfuor & Dzansi, 2015; Arko-Achemfuor, 2016). The overall wellbeing here is well in line with the triple bottom line (TBL) principle of conducting business which focuses on: people, profit, and the environment (Arko-Achemfuor & Dzansi, 2015). That is, we took care not to advance what Baatjes and Mathe (2004) call a neoliberal conception of business as tied to the pursuit of maximum profit making, but more as tied to trying to create decent and sustainable employment. This resonated with Ubuntu principles (Chilisa, 2017). Feedback from participants in relation to their benefiting from these sessions was hopeful in that the feedback expressed this spirit, which we had tried to “resuscitate” (in the face of alternative understandings of business as removed from a concern with overall wellbeing). In regard to point (iii), while the participants asked for assistance from us and the state regarding the initiatives they had taken, we were able to link them with some NGOs and government departments and agencies which offer support to such initiatives. For example, we linked them with the Small Business Development Agency (SEDA); Small Enterprises Finance Agency (SEFA); Operation Upgrade; the Local and District Enterprise Development offices; the Department of Agriculture and Forestry; and the Department of Trade and Industry, among others. Our linking the business owners and the cooperatives enabled some of the businesses to be assisted by SEDA with businesses plans; and grants to their cooperatives. The ROTARY club in the KZN provided jojo tanks and fencing of the vegetable gardens of some of the cooperatives. The department of Agriculture in the different provinces also provided extension support, tools and equipment to some of the cooperatives. Some of the vegetable and cooperatives were given the opportunity to supply bread and vegetables by the Department of Basic Education through the Schools’ Nutrition Programme. Operation Upgrade in KZN also gave further training in skills development such as baking, sewing, and higher ABET classes to some of the KRG graduates who wanted to learn further. Through networking and collaborations, we as researchers were able to assist the participants to obtain some of the services and facilities other institutions and organizations provide. Landqvist (2017) points out that it is important to approach collaboration partners that are willing to adapt their own resource collections to allow the start-up’s resources to fit into their existing resource structures. Finally, considering point (iv) above, McKay (2012, p. 22), in responding to the DHET Green Paper (2011a), recommended that the proposed differentiated college system should make provision for learners wishing to access vocational or bridging programs or foundational and other skills at the basic levels (see DHET, 2011b). Further to our research where many participants expressed the wish for further study, we continued to liaise with McKay, who in turn carried on to liaise with her contacts in the DHET. She continued to advocate the development of “a new type of institution …, one that can offer a diverse range of possibilities to people for whom vocational and technical colleges and universities are not desirable or possible” (McKay &

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Romm, 2019, p. 408). The DHET (2015) gazetted the establishment and operations of Community Education and Training Colleges founded on a set of principles in the post-school education system. The gazette defines what Community Education and Training Colleges (CETC) are about. Accordingly, the following principles underpin the establishment and declaration of Community Education and Training Colleges: a)

b) c) d) e)

f) g) h)

Expansion of access to education and training to all youth and adults, especially those who have limited opportunities for structured learning, including learners with disabilities; Diversification and transformation of institutions that promote the goals and objectives of a progressive socio- economic agenda; Provision of good quality formal and non - formal education and training programmes; Provision of vocational training that prepares people for participation in both the formal and informal economy; Close partnerships with local communities, including local government, civil Society Organizations, employers’ and workers’ organizations and alignment of programmes with their needs; Partnerships with government’s community development projects; Local community participation in governance; and Collaboration and articulation with other sections of the post- school system.

The idea of community colleges is in line with the DHET Green Paper (2011a) which if fully implemented will enable the KRG graduates to learn further and acquire the relevant skills they need for their development. The collaboration between the academics from the University of South Africa and the KRG programme and other stakeholders largely fulfils the principles of the CETC principles.

4 Reflections on Some Lessons Learned From our discussion above we suggest that we have learned the importance of creating an African Indigenous evaluation framework for assessing development education interventions in Africa, which first and foremost needs to cater for coinquiry processes which include educational researchers, community workers and social activists. This is compatible with Patton’s recommendation that evaluative research needs to be designed as a “participatory and dialogue-driven process” with those deeply involved (Patton, 2011, p. 13). In the African context, this means organizing the evaluation as a dialogue with the relevant beneficiaries and stakeholders, bearing in mind the relational principles of the Indigenous research paradigm as explicated by, for example, Chilisa (2012, 2020). Adhering to a relational ontology means that we recognize how all facets of our existence depend on relations and on the strengthening of connections. Evaluation is no less a part of this process of strengthening connections between all those involved. Furthermore, a relational epistemology implies that professional researchers/evaluators should recognize that

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they are relationally accountable not only to the beneficiaries and stakeholders of any intervention, but also to the entire web of ecological life (that should not become damaged in the process of “development”). Sustainability concerns have to be treated accordingly (Chilisa, 2017). Chilisa and Mertens suggest that an evaluative framework that is Made in Africa is rightfully premised on the axiological tenet of Ubuntu (2021, p. 241). Applying this axiological tenet, means that educational interventions become assessed in terms of their potentially fostering opportunities for the display of Ubuntu in social life, as well as in people’s relations with other forms of life (Chilisa, 2020, p. 24). Chilisa and Mertens set their argument concerning the need for Made in Africa Evaluation (MAE) in the context of their recognition that “mainstream evaluators [often] fail address the broader struggles of low- and middle-income countries [LMIC] and Indigenous peoples” (2021, p. 244). We have shown by way of example how evaluation can become decolonized by taking into account these struggles as a matter of paying careful attention to, while also assisting, beneficiaries so that they can use the intervention as an opportunity for indeed improving the quality of life— but not measured in terms of Western standards of “development as growth”. A lesson that must be taken from this is that the values underlying the evaluation of the intervention should not implicitly draw on such Western standards. Reflection on values being drawn upon cannot be excluded from evaluative research. By making explicit in this chapter how we harnessed the evaluation to strengthen relational values as expressed in Ubuntu, we have tried to correct what Chilisa and Mertens consider to be problematic in the field of “professional” evaluation, which in their view “has for a long time neglected the axiological, ontological, and epistemological assumptions that inform evaluation” (2021, p. 243). Evaluators situated in “academia” thus need to work alongside participants/beneficiaries when doing evaluative work, while at the same time adding input to strengthen the conversation around, and the potential action import of, the interventions being evaluated. The aim must be to handle the evaluation, with the people involved, towards enhancing people’s, especially otherwise marginalized people’s, potential to participate in social, economic and political life (McKay & Romm, 2019). Chilisa and Mertens argue that it is important that we do not “repeat the mistakes of the past when the Millennium Development Goals missed the mark on communities in LMIC, Indigenous populations, women, and people with disabilities” (2021, p. 252). Interestingly, Chilisa and Mertens believe that lessons learned as pertaining to Africa, also can have import for the rest of the globe, in that they propose that professional evaluators in all contexts can reflect upon their positions in the social and ecological networks of relations in which they are necessarily enmeshed (2021, p. 252). Our case study and our reflections around it, too is meant to offer a “resource” not only for African evaluators (and teams of evaluators), but for others who wish to reflect upon the way in which as evaluators they become part of social and ecological life.

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5 Conclusion In this chapter we shared our experiences and deliberations concerning how those positioned in “academia” can work alongside research participants as part of the evaluation of Development Education (DE) interventions. We exemplified how we drew on transformative and Indigenous paradigms for social research and evaluation as suggested by Chilisa and Mertens (2021), who elucidate how Made in Africa (MAE) evaluation is built on the Ubuntu philosophy. We offered our practical example set in the adult education arena, with reference to our experience in organizing a development evaluation of the South African national Kha Ri Gude campaign. The example here was used to indicate how we tried to contribute, in partnership with participants, to further enhancing the campaign’s aims at engendering “literacy plus”—that is, literacy plus life skills to participate more fully in economic, social and political life of the participants, communities and the nation as a whole, while resonating with the United Nations MDGs (2000) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (2015). We indicated how our involvement in the research and evaluation of the impact of the campaign in this case was premised on our intention to forward a triple bottom line approach to development consistent with an Ubuntu-oriented understanding of development as enhancement of relational wellbeing. Furthermore, we suggested that our deliberations concerning how evaluation of educational interventions can include triple bottom line consideration, is relevant not only to African evaluations, but also globally.

Appendix A: Focus group guiding questions (translated into mother tongue when communicating with focus group participants) 1. 2.

3.

4.

5.

Since you have been in the KHA RI GUDE campaign, have you been able to start a community project, example,vegetable garden, soup kitchen, etc.? Through engagement in the campaign, what type of community participation are you involved in, example, church activities, political involvement, volunteering work, etc. Since you have been in the campaign have you been able to start your own or with others a business enterprise, income generating activity, or did you find work or promotion (or just work better with others at work) because you can now do your work better? Regarding your involvement in the KHA RI GUDE campaign, has it contributed towards you having to assist in your child’s or grand child’s school work, participating in the SGB’s [School Governing Bodies]? Are you able to look after your health better now and the health of others after attending the KHA RI GUDE campaign?

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Have you considered studying further to ABET level 2 and maybe until you obtain matric? Please let us know if there is anything else that you can think of where the Kha Ri Gude has impacted on you and/or on the community? What do you think could be done to extend the campaign in future and also what can be done to support you more in future to improve your lives (and the quality of life in the community)? What do you think is still needed? Finally, we are very interested to know how you experienced the discussion today. Do you think you learned from one another? Please give examples if so. Do you think you learned from hearing our questions and creating answers? Did our questions help you to think about the way in which the campaign has an impact? We are interested in any comments that you have about the session today! Who wants to start?

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Chapter 12

Integration of Quality into University Academic Programs for National Development in Uganda Francis Akena Adyanga , Denis Sekiwu , and Grace Ankunda

Abstract The education system in East Africa is still premised on the colonial prototype that emphasizes theory, rote learning, memorization, and reproduction (recall) of knowledge by learners during assessment. Such a teaching and learning method punch a huge hole into students’ ability to problem-solve and hinders the development of students’ creative and innovative potential as the mainstay of development education. This challenge has persisted for years in spite of Africa’s breaking loose from colonial rule in the 1960s. As a result, there has been a growing concern from employers in diverse sectors across the region about the quality of university graduates to effectively participate as a workforce for societal transformation. Therefore, this chapter demonstrates the need for university program development to be inclusive, consultative, needs-based, and integrative, as a strategy for minimizing theoretical education while strengthening academic programs to contribute to sustainable development and internationalization. Drawing from practical experiences in the creation of a new program (Ph.D. in Education) at Kabale University in Uganda, this chapter discusses a multisectoral stakeholders’ consultative approach taken in the development of needs-based university programs aimed at addressing societal challenges. Keywords Needs-based · Assessment · Stakeholders’ consultations · Societal transformation

F. A. Adyanga (B) · D. Sekiwu · G. Ankunda Faculty of Education, Kabale University, Kabale, Uganda e-mail: [email protected] D. Sekiwu e-mail: [email protected] G. Ankunda e-mail: [email protected] F. A. Adyanga Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_12

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1 Introduction Following the 1997 introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and the 2007 introduction of Universal Secondary Education (USE) in Uganda, quality of education in most government aided schools particularly those in rural areas took a descending curve (Aguti, 2002; Grogan, 2009; Nishimura et al., 2008). Consequently, most economically empowered parents moved their kids out of government aided schools in preference for private schools that have maintained fairly good quality education. This development has huge implications on the quality of students graduating from high schools into universities and other tertiary institutions in terms of relevant skills training/development and playing major roles in research and knowledge production (Akena, 2012). In order to focus the purpose of education as a tool for poverty alleviation and acceleration of economic growth nationally, universities need to shift from traditional teaching and research paradigms to more participatory, transformative and community building paradigms, which support production and inculcation of contextually and culturally relevant knowledge (Naidoo et al., 2015). As contribution to development education, this chapter views the synergy between teaching and research for societal transformation as the central crux of strategic visioning of twenty-first century African universities. With the above background, the discussion in this chapter is based on four themes, thus: (1) a brief history of universities in Uganda, (2) quality education in universities and the race to internationalization, (3) role of the university in national development through program development, and (4) how universities move beyond showcasing conservative academic programs, quality assurance measures and assessments to engaging industry and racing for internationalization.

2 Brief History of University Education in Uganda The 1920s were influential years in the development of Uganda’s present university education system. Previously left in the hands of Christian missionaries, the colonial government assumed direct responsibility and control of the education sector from the 1920s to the time of political independence in 1962 (Adyanga, 2011; Ssekamwa, 2000). It was during this initial period that Makerere University was established as a technical College. The aim of founding Makerere University Technical College was to serve students from the British East African territories of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika (present day Tanzania). After the release of the Asquith Report in 1949, the college obtained a semi-autonomous status and became affiliated to London University (Kajubi, 1992; Bloom et al., 2006; Jacob et al., 2009; Adyanga, 2011). Following the establishment of Makerere College, education planners focussed their attention to the Africanization of the civil service structure with the view to promote modernization and development. By 1949, Makerere became a University College affiliated to the University College of London, offering degree courses. In

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1956, the founding of the Royal Technical College in Nairobi ended Makerere’s supremacy as the only institute of higher education in East Africa. A few years later, in 1961, the University College of Dar es Salaam was founded (Bloom et al., 2006), and in 1963, all these institutions were brought together to form the University of East Africa (Poddar & Johnson, 2005). In 1970, the University of East Africa was split into three fully-fledged independent universities. These universities were Makerere University in Uganda, Nairobi University in Kenya, and Dar-es-Salaam University in Tanzania. However, the years 1970s and 1980s were characterized by political turmoil and underfunding in the education sector in Uganda (Langlands, 1977) that the role of the university in national development in Uganda was almost a failed enterprise. Specifically, beginning from 1971, Uganda was plunged into turbulent years of its history with the coming to power of President Idi Amin (Bloom et al., 2006). Amin’s reign was accompanied by decline in all sectors of the economy. Education and health sectors which were previously on the right course of progression, tremendously stagnated (Adyanga, 2011; Kajubi, 1992; Karumaya, 1978). In order to revamp university education in Uganda which had tremendously declined during the Amin Era, the government of Uganda decided to adopt the liberalization and cost sharing of higher education mechanisms (Muyingo, 2004; Saint, 1992). Up until 1988 when the Islamic University in Uganda opened its doors to prospective students, university education in Uganda was entirely a public venture and monopolized by Makerere University as the only public university at the time. Makerere enjoyed unchallenged dominance over the higher education market in Uganda until deregulation, as part of the structural adjustment measures of the 1990s, brought many private universities to accommodate increasing demand for higher education (Mugizi, 2018). Privatization/liberalization of university education in Uganda meant shifting the focus of university management towards establishing and consolidating quality higher education, in order to fulfill the demands of a competitive market for university education (Mamdani, 2007; Sekiwu et al., 2019). As a result, in the early 1990s, the government came up with many reforms to uplift the quality of higher education in Uganda. One key reform is the establishment and approval of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act (UOTIA) in 2001 as amended. The Act superseded prior legislations, gave greater autonomy to institutions, and created the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE), which is the regulatory body of higher education in Uganda (UOTIA Act, 2001). NCHE developed a number of policies geared towards integration of quality standards in university academic program development, accreditation, review, as well as internal and external program assessment.

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3 Quality Education in Universities and the Race to Internationalization With the globalization undercurrents like liberalization of university education (Muwagga, 2006; cost-sharing of higher education (Sekiwu et al., 2019), rival competition for university education (Kasozi, 2009), internationalization of higher education and the quest for global visibility, as well as the massive student influx arising from effects of universalization of basic education (Muyingo, 2004); the university shifted to pursue quality education in order to remain relevant. Quality education in universities can be defined as the degree of pursuit of academic standards such as student learning achievements from the implementation of the traditional curriculum (Coombs, 1985). In the pursuit for quality education, the learning achievements may refer to the relevance of what is taught, the ability of what is taught to transform a society’s value system in order to bring excellence, and the capacity to offer graduates an opportunity to contribute to social transformation by application of the knowledge, competencies, values and skills acquired in the classroom (Haque, 2004). Quality university education would also mean making significant changes such as adoption of noval instructional technologies, alteration in the learning objectives, addressing society’s curricula demands and reforms through regular curricula reviews, emphasizing quality assurance standards in academic program implementation and the alignment of academic programs to the consumer-industrial demands (World bank, 1995). When all these changes are adhered to, the race to internationalization of university education becomes apparent and smooth because there is a will and capacity to develop internal structures and processes of academic development in the university, making them globally competitive. Externally, internationalization of university education is one of the key trends of development education. Strong investment in internationalization of the university programs calls for achieving international academic mobility, allowing for student exchange and encouraging academic partnerships. With the thrust in international studentships into the university, there emerges multiculturalism which imposes a dynamic evolution that forces university management to think more critically about the quality of the curriculum, as well as the quality of teaching and learning offered to international students for global relevance. At the same time, the race to internationalization would also mean vocalizing the impact of multicultural and international dimensions of higher education on the quality of university research and community engagement (Crisan-Mitra & Borza, 2015). The internationalization of the university curriculum would further imply minimization of existing higher education curricula inequalities across geo-political zones, to enable the university acquire credible and fast-rate world rankings. It also means strategically supporting the accreditation and evaluation of academic programs for global competitiveness and ultimately the enablement of international education relevance (Hellman, 2001). Internationalization further means establishing cooperation with other world-class universities and communities to bring in quality university education. Therefore, all efforts towards internationalization should be first undertaken at the teaching,

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learning, skills, and curriculum levels, coupled with mandatory development and evaluation academic programs to ensure quality and excellence. As will be demonstrated in the next section, the idea of academic program development is one of the cutting-edge requirements in the preparation of university graduates for national development.

4 University Role in National Development Through Program Development The universalization of access to primary and secondary education, as well as the liberalization of post primary schooling in the 1990s in Uganda was closely linked to the general belief that education would bridge the gaps between the rich and the poor and open space for equal opportunity. There is no doubt that education is the most powerful weapon in alleviating poverty, accelerating social and economic growth, producing skilled human resource, creating a healthy and enlightened social environment, as well as nurturing self sufficient nations (Bloom et al., 2006; Gyimah-Brempong, 2011; Musaazi, 2013; Tsang, 2000). As the key pillar in the production of relevant skills for societal growth, Africa’s universities are shifting paradigms from the traditional teaching and learning methodologies to more sociallyrelevant teaching and learning methodologies that encourage building of communities, economies, and leadership and undertaking cutting edge research aimed at addressing diverse societal challenges. For the paradigms to shift so as to have meaningful bearing in society and curricular reform, there is need to ensure that the university curriculum is locally and globally competitive as a key ingredient for ensuring global relevance. Therefore, conduct a needs assessment during the development and review of academic programs. The incorporation of a needs-assessment at the begining of curriculum development and review processes is intended to ensure the suitability of university education in promoting and serving Africa’s social transformation needs. However, unfortunately, Bloom et al. (2006) posit that most African universities have not yet made significant efforts to reform their curricular to be in position to respond to the rapidly expanding scientific knowledge and skills-mix and changing economic opportunities. Most African universities have also not been able to develop curricular that respond and address societal challenges (cf. Cloete et al., 2011). The reason for this can be placed within a historical context. Shortly after independence in the 1960s, African States were not keen in promoting the development role of universities. This is because most States had not yet crafted a comprehensible development model and many were locked up in internal power struggles and external cold war politics (Cloete et al., 2011). The same universities also experienced funding challenges since government was the sole financier. With this situation, universities in Africa were pressed against hard rock with their participation in national development agenda viewed suspiciously by the state (Kasozi, 2014; Koehn, 2012). After resumption of stability in the country in the late 1980s, universities started asserting

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their role in national development. The setting up of the National Council for higher education (NCHE) as the national regulatory body for higher education ensured that higher education institutions work closely with government and the community to address local challenges. Specifically, one of the mandates of NCHE is to ensure that universities develop academic programs that are aligned with the challenges/needs of local and global society. In order to ensure that universities contribute to local, national and global demands, NCHE controls, regulates and supervises how university managements contribute to quality assurance in academic program development, implementation and review. However, it is also important that the same NCHE moves beyond tracing and controlling the provision of conventional quality assurance in academic program development to supporting these universities to engage industry and the employer in revamping the existing teaching and learning process in the university in order to make it more socially-relevant.

5 Moving Beyond Conventional Quality Assurance in Academic Program Development The increasing levels of graduate unemployment in Africa which is explained partly by teaching and learning that is theoretical and not practical provokes pursuit of quality in academic programs in universities. This requires determination to move beyond mere implementation of conventional quality assurance measures and assessments for the performance of university academic programs and teaching to engaging industry and the employer. This is partly because university education is an instrument of social and cultural change which plays a vital role in society and industry. Thus, if well managed, academic programs in universities can impart knowledge, training and skills as well as inculcate new ideas and attitudes that are useful in the transformation of industry as a one of the goals of national development and transforming Uganda from a peasant to a prosperous country. Employers need graduates with the right skills-mix that will support increased industrial productivity (Kasozi, 2014). And to provide such graduates that add-value to industry, the purpose of university education is to offer instructional programs that facilitate the inculcation of values, norms and social skills that are relevant in industry. Therefore, quality assurance alignment must focus on vocational and technical skills, as well as the production of creative, innovative and critical thinkers that can ably apply knowledge to social problems. Again, to ensure that university teaching and learning is better aligned with industry and social demands, there is need to introduce Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) as a strategy to bring academic programming closer to the employer through creation of avenues for corporate social responsibility. This is partly enabled by introducing stakeholder engagement platforms to effect dialogue on issues that are relevant to social development, industrial demand as well as including a number of vital stakeholders in the development of academic programs (Greene, 1988).

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Incorporating stakeholder demands in university academic programs can hasten development of more industrially-focussed and internationally attractive curricular. Tawil and Locatelli (1996) provide a report of the United National Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] when they argue that, there is need to rethink education to attract more skills of innovation, critical thinking, technologies, and enhance the ability of students to apply the knowledge learned as critical requirements for social transformation and development education for the twenty-first century. Therefore, university academic programs are those that enable ‘learning to know’ whereby students are prepared to take responsibility of their own learning in order to keep themselves up-to-date as well as knowing where to look for knowledge. The world is rapidly changing due to influences borne from the forces of modernism such as the impact of global pandemics and the focus on democratic higher education governance principles, all of which motivate the continued upgrading of knowledge trends. With regard to the impact of global pandemics, the coronavirus (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, did not only infect approximately 214,468,601 and cause 4,470,969 deaths as reported by the World Health Organization [WHO] (Mohammed, 2020; Nugraha et al., 2020; Olliaro et al., 2021) but also forced the world to a lockdown of education institutions affecting nearly 1.6 billion learners in more than 200 countries by 2021 (Sumatra & Roshan, 2021). Some of the documented effects of COVID-19 on education include school closures (Dhawan, 2020), social distancing as a deprivation of traditional learning methods (UNESCO, 2020a, b; Holzer et al., 2021), mounting online education (Petrie, 2020; Rieley, 2020), and adoption of “Education in Emergency” policies like blended and flipped classes (Sumatra & Roshan, 2021). Preparing the learner and teacher for the online, blended and hybrid teaching methodologies requires the provision of hitech quality assurance in areas of online education in the university. This further implies change in attitudes in order to ensure positive adoption of online teaching and learning. Moving away from conventional quality assurance in academic programming would also require the development of a curriculum that emphasizes ‘learning to do’ to counter the traditional learning for knowledge thought. This implies that academic programs need to be linked to vocational and technical education, as well as work-based training for skills-development. This is supposed to enable graduates do specific things or engage in practical tasks in industrial economies (Delors, 1998). However, the attempt towards a more industrial and society-based academic program would require a sense of ‘learning to be’—learners in universities should be taught to realize that they belong to a whole, which is the discovery of that universal dimension of humanity where universal human values are profoundly encouraged beyond individual values to foster values of citizenship, universality, moral values and patriotism. Such holistic education helps learners foster a basically spiritual being in search of meaning and humanness, through acquisition of knowledge, skills and values conducive to personality development in its intellectual, moral, cultural and physical dimensions. It also means the academic programs must aim at cultivating qualities of imagination, creativity and teaching universally shared human values such as learning to live together, responsibly, respecting and cooperating

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with other people to minimise prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes and advocating for global social justice. Finally, such an academic program that speaks to sustainable development should be linking to the national and international education philosophy. It is about inclusion of global development concerns and themes in university education, highlighting the inequalities and injustices present across our globe as requirements for development education (Delors, 1998). In the same vein, such internationalized academic programs must encourage gender equality and the promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and the appreciation of cultural diversity.

6 Quality Framework in the Development of Doctoral Education 6.1 The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Education for Kabale University Because the university plays an important role in national development, the programs taught must be of quality. Quality being about the articulation of excellence, it involves the systematic review of educational provision to maintain effectiveness and efficiency. Again, quality is the degree to which the institution is successful in achieving its objectives to the satisfaction of itself, the students and society (Eppnik & van Raad, 2005). Practically, the EFQM Model (2006) indicates that quality in education programme development encompasses: a) b)

Internal-evaluation through assessing the capacity of the university to offer doctoral education. External evaluation by conducting a needs assessment with stakeholders, teachers, students and the community.

Kabale University started as a community institution in 2002. The University was granted an operational license No. UI.CH.003 in 2005 and obtained a Charter (No. UI.CH.008) in 2014. The institution became a Public University in 2015 with the Statutory Instruments No. 36; UTOA, 2003 & 2006. By 2015, it had grown with an enrolment of 3000 students hailing from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, and Zanzibar. Since 2006/2007, several students have graduated with postgraduate qualification in education, and there is mounting demand from alumni, professional practitioners for the University to begin a Ph.D. in education to absorb various groups. It is also no doubt that all these steady developments provide the institution with a strong capability to develop and run higher degree programs such as PhDs. In developing the Ph.D. in Education, the Faculty of Education at Kabale University embarked on a needs-assessment by conducting series of stakeholders’ consultations in October, November, and December 2020. The three months’ consultations

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with the community aimed at ensuring that program development is informed by the community needs. It ensured that the final program developed is benchmarked with best practices regionally and internationally with the aim of addressing pressing challenges in society. This process is a deliberate strategy to close the disparity gap between university academic programs and their relevancy for societal transformation which has been an overarching issue for years (cf. Benesch, 1996; Kern, 2016). It also means that Ugandan universities contribute to social transformation as the bridging link to national development. Still, the above effort is a demonstration that the same universities are deliberately aiming at becoming logically agile, innovative, and relevant in society. For societies to transform, we must recognize that decisions about the ways in which they should be changed are also political decisions. Thus, the most fundamental of such decisions are to be taken by political authorities. But education is an extension of political purpose and must be a primary, perhaps the primary agent that is available for that purpose (Kern, 2016; Musaazi, 2013). With the university realizing the need for collective knowledge generation for social transformation, Ivory Towers are now being discarded—universities are opening to work with government/development agencies, industries, and communities, to provide quality education as the hallmark for national development. This drive requires concentration on research and innovation-based programs of study, as well as programs that have a direct linkage with communities. In order to emphasize this new reality about the contemporary African university, this paper examines how university programs could be aligned with national development efforts.

7 Aligning University Programs with National Development The role of university education in national development cannot be negated. Regarded as a consumption good (Delsen, 2007; Marginson, 2007), universities are a direct investment that leads to increased economic growth (cf. Musaazi, 2013). From providing solutions to societal challenges through research, innovation, and technology transfer, to engaging in new and relevant knowledge/technology transfer and driving social cohesion; universities have proven their worth in national development in Uganda. In this section, we discuss the process of stakeholders’ consultations in the development of a Ph.D. program in Education at Kabale University. The Ph.D. in Education is a research degree aimed at providing high-tech forms of teaching, research skills development and community engagement. The purpose of the program is to produce an all-round doctoral graduate with the skills and competency to provide academic and professional leadership that transforms the local, national, regional, and global spectrum of education. Henceforth, the process of developing the Ph.D. program took a bottom-up approach. This process started with conceptualization of the program in raw form at the faculty and gradually spawn out to the community so

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that issues affecting them (community), and which they want the Ph.D. program to address can be captured. High institutions of learning provide an important platform for conversations with local industry, the business sector and civil society about the future direction of technologies, markets, branding and product development. This public space involves meetings, conferences, entrepreneur/investor forums, committees for discussion of university academic program development among others. The conversations between university and industry that occur in these spaces often generate ideas that later become the focus of problem solving, critical thinking and innovative teaching and learning engagements that consolidate quality in universities for national development (Mosha, 1986; Pillay, 2011; Saha, 1991). How were the stakeholder consultations conducted in the process of developing the Ph.D. in Education at Kabale University?

8 Research Strategy 8.1 External and Internal Program Evaluation The quality framework defines quality in the development of the Ph.D. in Education to comprise of internal and external evaluation. For external evaluation, a needsassessment was deployed as one of the methods for the development of the Ph.D. in Education. As key pillars of societal transformation, universities are expected to align their fundamental objectives with pressing needs of society. The process of developing the premier Ph.D. in Education for Kabale University took a needsassessment approach basically to indicate the importance of various courses to be offered by the Ph.D. in Education and their relevancy to the immediate social, regional and global demands. The aim of this approach was two-fold: a) b)

To ensure the marketability of the Ph.D. in Education nationally and internationally. To provide focus research areas that are relevant to the local and international contexts.

As a matter of principle, the following questions guided the external stakeholder’s consultations: a) b)

What roles do universities have in national development? What societal issues would you like to see reflected in the university training programs such as the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)?

With regard to internal program evaluation, Uganda’s National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) guidelines for doctoral education and curriculum development were used to ascertain Kabale University’s capacity to offer the Ph.D. in education. Internal program evaluation therefore involved assessing:

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Issues of manpower availability, qualifications and experience of Ph.D. instructors. Availability of reading facilities, online resources, as well as availability and adequacy of reading, consultation and study space were all examined. Availability of a management structure to guide implementation of the Ph.D. in Education. Financial capacity to run the program.

8.2 Pragmatism as the Research Paradigm This study deployed the pragmatist world-view to decide what knowledge and curriculum content work best and are appropriate when developing a program of study (Creswell, 2013) in order to bring out the nature of reality and knowledge (Lincoln et al., 2011). Pragmatists focus on the nature of experience as the basis of our actions. This means that we cannot be separated from the situations and contexts in which outcomes occur (Morgan, 2007). Therefore, quality university education must be borne out of and is shaped by human experiences, situations and needs. Based on the pragmatic worldview as the research philosophy, we then engaged a needs-based strategy to gather qualitative data from various institutional, community, and national stakeholders. The consultative approach and interviews were used as the methods of data collection. Stakeholders were purposely selected based on their prolonged service in different educational departments (government and private) and basic knowledge of the degree program development. The selection process anchored on years of service and level of education (the focus was those with Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees). At the national level, consultations targeted key stakeholders in the Ministry of Education and Sports, with specific focus on the department of Higher Education. We also made consultations with the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), specifically to understand the policy developments in education, and how these inform curriculum development in general and higher education in particular. This helped in giving us strategies for orientation of the program philosophy, instructional methodology and assessment modes. Locally (to the districts), the consultations brought us to interface with District Education Officers, District Inspectors of Schools, Head teachers and Teachers, University leadership and academic staff. Because this was just a consultation on matters of program development, we did not follow standard formality often associated with the ethical practices in human subject research. Rather, the process conversationally rotated around the key questions stated earlier. However, despite of this, we maintained, in the final write up of the report, the privacy of all the stakeholders by anonymizing their names and the names of their districts. For stakeholders from schools (such as teachers and head teachers), the names of their schools were also anonymized from the final document produced. This is because we did not want any information given to us and produced in the

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final report to be traced back to any of the consulted stakeholder. Data was analysed under various emerging themes and concepts that developed from the internal and external consultations.

9 Discussions of Emerging Issues from Stakeholder Consultations 9.1 National-Level Consultations The major finding at the national and local level is the fact that doctoral (Ph.D.) education should contribute to enabling the achievement of national policy. To this end, participants focused on the creation of the learning outcomes1 as key strands in Ph.D. program development. According to the stakeholders, much as universities are preoccupied with defining objectives and evaluating outcomes which they argued is an important process, many institutions miss out on the technicality of linking those outcomes to the market/industry requirements and demands. Stakeholders reiterated the importance of creating linkages of the program learning outcomes to the industry. The emerging themes included the following:

9.1.1

Graduate Employment

Bolstering students’ chances of gaining meaningful employment at post graduation. Participants (mainly those from the University) pointed out that well aligned program learning outcomes with the needs of the industry produces graduates well equipped with the twenty-first century skills such as leadership, innovativeness, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, communication and computer skills. Such skills, as asserted by a female participant are “…crucial for blending a critical and analytical knowledge for supporting the development of new paradigms for sustainable social education. The Ph.D. student is thus exposed to various leading themes in the field of global education as well as postcolonial and indigenous education that articulate the historical and contemporary patterns of education.” With this complexity of speciality, graduates of the Ph.D. program in education will be better placed to acquire meaningful employment upon graduation, and they will be equipped with competencies to enable them participate ably in national and global development endeavours.

1

Learning outcomes is a statement of knowledge, skills, and attitude that students should acquire at the end of each course unit, course module or broader program.

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9.1.2

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Development of Skilled Graduates

With regard to production of competent graduates, participants noted that often times, graduates leave university without the skills required by industry (cf. Selvadurai et al., 2012). Because of this, they argued, many companies have had to retrain these graduates. The training, they stated, can be time consuming and very costly for the employers. For instance, a female stakeholder asserted “by strengthening the process of linking the university learning outcome to the demand of industry, training institutions will be able to produce graduates who are demand ready and job ready hence increasing the new graduates’ efficiency at the entry level job…This paves way for rapid vertical mobility thereby ensuring increased productivity…”.

9.1.3

Attracting a Globally Competitive Human Resource

Stakeholders further confirmed that developing a Ph.D. program in line with employer demands is one way to strengthening employees’ job flexibility. In many workplaces, job flexibility is used by organizations/companies or business to motivate employees. The idea behind job flexibility is that employees are given alternatives to the conventional (working hours) schedule. This gives the employees the chance to create meaningful balance between work and social life (Hill et al., 2001; Tymon, 2013; Von Hippel et al., 1997). Participants argued that flexitime allows employees the opportunity to have control over the hours in which they work thereby reducing work related stress. Creating linking between university programs and job market enables the practical and theoretic integration of flexitime in the training process. Reinforcing collaborations among universities for crafting the twenty-first century paradigms required for societal growth. According to participants, enhancing linkages of program learning outcomes with industry leads to concretization of reforms in the education system and the curriculum to obtain a globally competitive human resource with skills relevant to the development of twenty-first century paradigms. Participants also stated that collaboration among universities in the region is the right steps toward the realization of the East African Regional Integration by producing independent critical thinkers.

9.1.4

Contributing to Uganda’s Vision 2040

Stakeholders emphasized with high intensity, the need for universities to contribute to the effective implementation of the various endorsements in the Uganda Vision 2040. The responses were based on those strands of Vision 2040 that foster industrial development, promote innovation and creativity, as well as citizenship building. The Vision, approved by Cabinet in 2007, is themed “A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years” and builds on the government progress that has been made in addressing the strategic bottlenecks that have constrained Uganda’s socio-economic development since political

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independence in 1962, including; ideological disorientation, weak private sector, underdeveloped human resources, inadequate infrastructure, small market, lack of industrialization, underdeveloped services sector, under-development of agriculture, and poor democracy, among others (https://www.gou.go.ug/content/uganda-vision2040).

9.1.5

Practical-Based Learning

In implementing the national curriculum, it was noted by most stakeholders that beautiful curricula are designed by NCDC but these curricula are not implemented effectively. There is a lot of learning by memorization with limited practical teaching and learning experiences. This issue arises from the fact that teaching in the universities are often relaxed to take students through the practical aspects. A female participant for example stated that “I still remember my days during the undergraduate study. Most Lecturers were simply giving us notes and sometimes modules and yet in the course syllabi, you could clearly see that some lessons were supposed to be practical.” The problem of learning by memorization as articulated by participants has over the years increased graduates unemployability in Uganda. Graduate unemployability is one of the resultant factors that hinders the progress of university education in Uganda. Therefore, the stakeholders recommended the following issues to be captured in the Ph.D. in Education program. Development of a Ph.D. in Education that will emphasize more practical teaching and learning than classroom theory. This issue was stated by most stakeholders from the University. Participants were concerned with the methodology of program delivery which they argued, as specifically pointed by a male stakeholder that the PhD. in Education should concentrate on the provision of more problem-solving research competencies to produce high-tech graduates that can critically observe society and its dynamics, then provide sustainable solutions for positive social transformation.

9.1.6

Critical Ph.D. Content Areas

To keep track with global education changes as suggested in Uganda Education Agenda 2040 and rearticulated by participants, it is important for the Ph.D. in Education program to put much emphasis on multicultural education, social justice education, the politics of global education and the philosophical foundations of education and development. These key fields of study would make the program vastly international and in line with contemporary global education discourses which increases its competitiveness. Specifically, a female participant argued that the component of social justice is often not taught in our educational curriculum and that partly contributes to production of graduates who have no regard about the wellbeing of others. I would love to see your PhD. in education program integrate social justice as well as environmental justice themes as key aspects of this curriculum.

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The submission by the above participant espoused that social justice education does not merely examine difference or diversity but pays careful attention to the systems of power and privilege that give rise to social inequality. This process encourages students to critically examine oppression on institutional, cultural, and individual levels in search of opportunities for social action in the service of social change (Hackman, 2005; Nieuwenhuis, 2010). The need for the Ph.D. program to include counselling psychology emerged with high sensitivity. Participants pointed out that the continued challenge of graduate unemployment in the country has left many young people hopeless and desolate. A male participant asserted that graduates have even developed psychological challenges like traumatic experiences which tend to shorten their lifespan. This PhD. in Education should introduce Education Psychology as one of the focus areas. This will provide several theoretical and practical disciplines on management of counselling related issues among students which enables them to later cope with stress related to joblessness.

9.2 District-Level Consultations At the local government level (district), consultations were made with the District Education Officers, Sub-County Education Offices, Head teachers, Teachers and Board of Governors of primary and secondary schools. Even the Local Council Chairpersons for Education were also consulted to provide a rural-based perspective on the educational demands of the community. Among the emerging issues are:

9.2.1

Professional Capacity of Teachers

There is need to develop the capacity of teachers at the districts. Many teachers lack hands-on skills such as computer literacy, managing psychological issues in schools, and they have weak teaching and learning skills. With this challenge identified, the Ph.D. in education program should have and advanced computer training course whose purpose is to nurture students’ competency in computer literacy and preparing them for a real world of work in the digital era and world of big data analytics. Again, many teachers do not know institutional politics and power bases; they cannot ably evaluate their school environments to detect outliers like conflicts, areas of motivation and management of crisis in schools. The Ph.D. in Education offers several methodologies and theoretical scopes on how to manage diverse institutional dynamics. Specifically, a course unit on Educational Management has been developed to bolster students’ competencies in navigating institutional relations. The District Education Officers (DEOs) emphasized that most of their teachers do not have financial management skills which leads most of their head teachers to present budget proposals that are half-baked. Therefore, this program should provide courses in financial literacy for higher education leadership. Precisely, a female DEO states

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being exposed to information on budgeting, accounting and finance is tremendously significant for educational leaders. But unfortunately, many of our colleagues fall short of this very important skill and hence the need for your doctoral program to have financial management integrated.

Finally, it was noted that there is a huge gap in educational planning among many education managers. Monitoring and evaluation of strategic progress of their institutions highly is wanting because of their little or no knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of the set plans and strategic objectives of the institutions they head. The Ph.D. in Education offers a course on Education Monitoring and Evaluation with emphasis on both practicum and theory. The intent is to nurture Ph.D. students into those comprehensive skills on how to develop a tactical plan and logical implementation matrixes. The aim is the empower graduates to conduct baseline, midterm, and summative evaluations to check the worthiness of implementing University programs.

9.3 Consultations from Higher Institutions of Learning Further consultations were made at different higher institutions of learning with a view to benchmark teaching and learning practices. Therefore, the key issues that emerged from higher education institutions’ consultations were a)

b)

Most faculty do not know how to develop marketable programs of study. Consequently, a course on institutional pedagogy focusses on process of initiating, developing, and evaluating a programme of study. Curriculum development is dynamic and interactive in nature and is comprise of multiple interconnected processes. Henceforward, the negation of any aspect of the process of the curriculum designing could impact on other parts hence rendering the program in dissonance with societal needs/challenges (cf. Anderson & Rogan, 2011). The philosophy of science is integrated in the Ph.D. in education mainly to enable students appreciate philosophy as the basis of logical thought and reasoning as the basis of critical analysis on documents, as well as thinking. The steps in self-criticism and critical thought are introduced in some of the cross-cutting courses, basically to enable those Ph.D. in education candidates (that will take a career in teaching at higher institutions of learning) to develop their critical thinking skills which are crucially needed during their professional obligations (teaching, research, publication).

At Kabale University, the proposal to offer a Ph.D. in Education was conceptualized and the idea sold to the department of Foundations of Education to arouse constructive discussions and debate. The comments from discussions were continuously incorporated into the concept paper and then a proposal for the Ph.D. in Education was developed and submitted to the Faculty Board for debate. Suggestions were solicited from faculty and amendments to the document were made. One of the hotspot suggestions fronted by members at the faculty and adopted in this

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document was the use of the blended teaching and learning methodology as a vital device for Doctoral education.

10 Conclusion For universities to contribute meaningfully to national development and transform society, their study programs and research agenda need to align with the challenges of contemporary society. This calls for the establishment, by government, of a conducive and interactive environment between universities, industry and policymakers which then become the main catalyst for social and economic development (cf. Schartinger et al., 2001). Therefore, for universities to integrate research, innovation and outreach activities that enhance national development (Kantola & Kettunen, 2012), certain practices must be adopted. These practices include but not limited to the academic program development process that are consultative and based on the bottom-up approach, as well as the development of research agenda that are aligned with the immediate community challenges, crafting of innovation and intellectual property rights policies, establishing selection and admission structures that attract high caliber of students, creating sound student support and management structures, establishing a sound culture of research and academic integrity and creating an enabling environment that provides motivating learning experiences for students. Finally, the discussions in this chapter have demonstrated the urgency for universities to analyze the economic and social benefits of knowledge and skills from the diverse competencies acquired through university educational programs. It has reiterated the need for university curricula development to be integrative and consultative, hence taking the bottom-to-top approach. This is critical for transforming society—which fosters discussions on significant planning areas that are necessary for developing strategies for job creation, skills development and cultivating informed citizenship for responsible knowledge sharing (Musaazi, 2013; Ajala, et al., 2020). Higher education is a determinant of income and one of the most important investments a country should choose to make out of its citizens because it provides a workforce consisting of professional, technical, and managerial skills— creating positive attitudes that are necessary for socialization, modernization, and the overall societal transformative agenda.

References Adyanga, O. C. (2011). Modes of British imperial control of Africa: A case study of Uganda, C. 1890–1990. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Aguti, J. N. (2002). Facing up to the challenge of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda through distance teacher education programs. A paper presented at Pan Commonwealth Forum on open Learning. Durban, South Africa 29th July.

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Chapter 13

Neoliberal Globalization, Food Systems (Literacy) Transformation and Global Citizenship Issahaka Fuseini

Abstract This chapter discusses global citizenship as an imperative of development education, through the lens of food literacy. At the heart of development education is a transformative approach to pursuing human centred development by empowering people and communities through knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills. The notion of global citizenship is, persuasively, the moral anchor for the practice of development education. However, with the unfolding globalization forces, some of the qualities and values sometimes become contentious due to how they are produced, diffused and the potential negative implications about their outcomes. This leaves one to wonder whether to learn to get empowered to give effect to development education and global citizenship or to unlearn what is already known or is an accepted system of knowledge or values in order to promote the practice of development education. The chapter contributes to conceptualizing development education through global citizenship using food and nutrition literacy by focusing on the current processes of neoliberal globalization induced food system transformations, how the process creates unhealthy food environments and disrupts local food system knowledge, food literacy and skills, and how the individual reacts to such processes in terms of food and nutrition literacy, and aspirations for improved wellbeing. There is no doubt that globalization induced food system transformations have disrupted food literacy in some respects, principally due to availability of food in environments and cultures other than where the food was produced. Other dynamics such as food processing and preparation technologies, new ideas and sources of food literacy all interact to create a blurring effect of just what is useful food literacy, and which should be unlearned in order to achieve wellbeing. The chapter spotlights the tension between the known, locally relevant food literacy and that which is ‘imposed’ by neoliberal food systems transformation, and how this creates dissonance and convergence about food literacy as the individual joggles between wellbeing and being a global citizenship. The chapter argues that the homogenizing food literacy due to the effect of neoliberal globalization is antithesis to the concept of global citizenship as framed in development education, and concludes that the results are loss of relevant local food literacies, creation of unhealthy food environment and exposure of the I. Fuseini (B) Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_13

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population to poor health arising from increasing food-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It is recommended that multilevel governance and regulatory strategies, structures and frameworks be designed and implemented to counter the real and potential public health problems arising from the food systems transformation. These include legislative regulation on food component and nutritional information labelling, regulating ‘harmful’ food advertisement, creation of healthy food environment, prioritizing of recruitment of caterers with local food literacies to work in public sector as well as designing education campaigns to promote consumption of local foods by demystifying certain false claims about processed foods. Keywords Development education · Food security · Globalisation · Food systems · Global citizenship

1 Introduction Development Education (DE) seeks to promote a one world thinking whereby the peoples of the world live in solidarity with one another and collaborate to addressing problems of the world. This notion of solidarity and collaboration revolves around the concept of Global Citizenship (GC). The centrality of GC in DE has seen the latter evolving from a narrow conception of North–South, one directional paradigm to “a bigger global perspective (Global Education) with the element of responsibility of each global citizen (Global Citizenship Education)” (Jancovic, 2016, p. 46). The notion of global citizenship education takes a critical approach to questioning the dominant global governance and economic structures and processes that produce inequalities. After all, DE is concerned about understanding how these forces work and how to change them to create a more just, equitable and sustainable future for all. This is where values such as solidarity, empathy, collaboration and sharing of expertise, skills, knowledge, and know-how come in. The NGO and aid centred conception of DE was soon deemed inadequate to effect long-term solutions to some of the problems of inequality—poverty, deprivation, illiteracy, and poor sanitation— that gave birth to DE. The thinking of DE in the frame of global citizenship education is a more comprehensive approach that does not just create awareness about inequalities but to conscientiously mold the global citizenry to take responsibility to deal with the repercussions of their actions and those of others afield. While more knowledge and understanding of global issues are critical to the conceptualization of DE, the real value of DE lies in imparting critical skills and expertise to the global citizenry to enable them to interpret the impact of global forces and processes on their lives and on the global system (Bourn, 2008). In recent times, globalization has been the single most important factor for the diffusion of materials, ideas, cultures, know-how and innovation. The forces of globalization have furthered the objective of DE by ensuring that technical or technological innovations are diffused across the world to benefit the world population as

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well as spreading industrial goods and services to address inequalities in access to these. However, contemporary development outcomes—anthropogenic inducement of climate change, unsustainable production and consumption practices, increasing material and social inequalities, increasing disease burden linked to global food systems transformation—suggest that the forces of globalization rather reinforce inequalities and precarity among the world population that is already vulnerable and that need to be supported. On the other hand, international efforts, collaboration and solidarity such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), funding support to feed the chronically hungry and displaced populations (World Food Programme and donor organisations and countries), promotion of global health (e.g. immunization, global response to Ebola outbreak in Africa led by WHO, current fight against COVID-19), efforts to mitigate climate change and empower populations to be able to adapt to climate change, investment to support food production (e.g. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, European Commission) all point to positive effects of global action against what might be considered common world problems. One of the aspects that globalization is faulted for its negative influence is nutritional knowledge and outcomes. Linked to health, globalization has had a rather unenviable reputation for contributing to negative nutritional outcomes and poor health (Crouth, 2021; Scrinis, 2016). Globalization is ‘accused’ of restructuring global economic forces such that production and distribution of goods and services are driven largely by profit motives with very little consideration for the wellbeing of the global citizenry (Stiglitz, 2017). No aspect of human life has globalization impacted negatively than in the area of nutrition and health. The 2020 Global Nutrition Report has painted a grim picture of most countries, including those of the resource poor countries, suffering from the double burden of hunger, overnutrition and increase in diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Globalization is implicated in this narrative by making it easy for highly processed foods, sugar sweetened beverages and salt to be distributed to and consumed by populations across the world. In other words, contemporary neoliberal globalization has created food environments characterized by unhealthy foods, disruption of local food systems knowledge and food literacies (Amevinya et al., 2020; Halliday et al., 2019; Kent et al., 2018; Laar et al., 2020; Scrinis, 2016; Wijayaratne et al., 2018). This chapter discusses neoliberal induced food system transformation in relation to the notion of global citizenship and food literacy by spotlighting the tension between the known, locally relevant food literacy and that which must be acquired (unlearning of the local food knowledge), and how this creates dissonance and convergence about food literacy as the individual joggles between wellbeing and being a global citizenship. The intention is to demonstrate the challenge of conceptualizing development education through the notion of global citizenship with respect to neoliberal globalization induced food systems and food literacy transformations. The chapter recommends measures to facilitate unlearning and relearning of certain food cultures in order to impart food and nutrition literacies that are relevant to promoting good life or wellbeing as opposed to the (false) good life that contemporary global marketing systems promise. The following sections present an overview of DE as a global citizenship imperative, the concepts of food, nutrition, and health literacies as

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well as globalization and how it promotes (false) food and nutrition literacies. Brief reflections and recommendations conclude the chapter.

2 DE, a Global Citizenship Imperative In simple terms, global citizenship refers to recognizing the interconnected nature of the world’s social, economic, historical, and environmental systems. Jancovic (2016) notes the emergence of global citizenship in the evolution of DE. According to this viewpoint, the concept of DE emerged as an NGO-led practice of giving aid to crisis hit or impoverished populations of the Global South in the manner that was us vs. them. As this approach only ensured superficial results, the focus was then shifted to a global perspective with the recognition of the interconnectedness of the world and the responsibility of every citizen living anywhere in the world to consider global problems as theirs and take action to address these (Bourn, 2008; Jancovic, 2016). This is where global citizenship or global citizenship education got entry into DE and now forms the core of what DE stands for and seeks to achieve. Thus, the concept has transformed from being us vs. them to us as one world citizens. Within the frame of DE, global citizenship goes beyond the mere recognition of the interconnectedness of the world systems to a critical approach to understanding and analyzing the functional relationships of these systems. This is important in the wake of mounting challenges such as inequality, poverty, water, food, energy scarcity and climate change. We need global solidarity and collaboration to address these issues by emphasizing responsibility with a view to achieving sustainability (Jancovic, 2016). According to Davis (cited in Shultz, 2010), global citizenship should be conceptualised as an ecosystem whereby diversity of values, knowledge systems, cultures, visions, languages, dreams, etc. of all humanity (what the author calls ethnospheres) should be recognized, encouraged, nurtured and protected so as to preserve the substance of humanity. He likens the importance of diversity for the functioning of humanity to life on earth much the same as the atmosphere and the biosphere. The current COVID-19 pandemic and many other political, social, economic and climate stressors around the world provide ample evidence that the us vs. them thinking is untenable for the harmony of humanity, and that global cooperation and collaboration are needed in dealing with these planetary challenges. A global citizen has the following traits (Bourn, 2008, p. 9): • • • • • • •

is aware of the wider world and has a sense of their own role as a world citizen respects and values diversity has an understanding of how the world works is outraged by social injustice participates in the community at a range of levels, from the local to the global is willing to act to make the world a more equitable and sustainable place takes responsibility for their actions

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As Shultz (2010, p. 11) notes: Global citizenship may also be a key conceptualization to challenge longstanding worldviews that perpetuate and naturalize domination and hierarchy, the evidence of which can still be seen (and experienced) in the damage of European colonialism. As educators, the responsibility to educate for such global citizenship may be the most immediate and imperative project in our midst if we are to understand the multiple cultural interactions and interconnections that are part of global citizenship.

As will be seen shortly, however, contemporary globalization processes have had a rather malignant impact on the promotion of global citizenship. Through improved transportation systems and technology, the world has become more connected than ever, enabling fast diffusion and transfer of tangible and intangible goods and services in time and space. These dynamics could be leveraged to promote global citizenship, however, the reality is a stark contrast. Nowhere is this so manifest than in the area of food systems transformation (Andam et al., 2018) which leads to blurring of food and nutrition literacies and skills as people joggle to adapt to the changes.

3 Character of Globalization Anthony Giddens defines globalization as “the intensification of worldwide social relations which link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa” (Bourn, 2008, p. 13). Globalization is principally hinged upon interconnectedness and interdependence of people, communities, countries and organisations as well as consciousness among the world’s societies, peoples and organisations about the globalizing forces (Robertson & White, 2007). Giddens’ definition of the concept appears narrow in the present context of the common usage of globalization. But this is understandable given the fuzzy nature of the concept based on different disciplinary viewpoints. For example, Giddens’ definition was influenced by the focus of his writing—Modernity and Self-Identity—which was centred on external lifestyle choices of an individual, choices influenced by the external environment or society (Gluck, 1993). In contemporary times, however, globalization is often associated with economic diffusion whereby industrial production, goods and services, technical know-how, and technological advances spread easily across the globe. Of course, diffusion of socio-cultural and political values and attitudes are intrinsic part of contemporary conception of globalization, enabled by international and intergovernmental bodies like the United Nations (UN), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) among other bodies (Robertson & White, 2007). Of interest in this chapter is a narrow conception of globalization as an economic diffusion because of the influence of international trade on food systems transformation and associated dynamics in food and nutritional literacies. The enabling force in contemporary economic globalization is neoliberalism—an economic order that hinges on open markets, free trade, deregulation and privatization (essentially transforming the state from a provider of public welfare to promoter

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of markets)—which gives large transnational corporations access to global markets and a great deal of prowess to even engage with and/or control governments in some respects (Birch, 2017; Robertson & White, 2007; Stiglitz, 2017). Robertson and White (2007, p. 56) contend that transnational corporations “… have often become the most iconic representatives of what many think of as the ‘nasty’ side of globalization.” While globalization—represented now by neoliberalism—ensures access to essential goods and services, technical know-how, information and technology across the globe, all of which can promote the practice of development education, imperfections in the operation of the market often cause or worsen social problems such as inequalities, poverty and poor wellbeing as well as environmental issues borne out of unsustainable production and consumption. Shultz (2010, p. 9) describes how neoliberal globalization disadvantages the marginalized and less privileged as follows: A common feature of globalized and globalizing times is access to multiple ‘generalized others’[serving as demand pool for whatever goods and services] where there is a multiplicity of responses[production/supply] to this access. Often it is those people already endowed with power and privilege who are given access to even more of the worlds’ human and material wealth. These are empowered positions supported by market and political structures that, by design, intentionally limit any projects of redistribution that might dismantle these elite enclaves …

Essentially, the proponents of globalization and neoliberalism work with the theory that when globalization works well, the benefits could be shared or losers could be compensated through trickle down effects by means of jobs, increased incomes, and improved wellbeing, but experiences across the globe show that this line of reasoning is a myth, it has not happened in reality (Stiglitz, 2017). Under the general rubric of open markets, free trade and free movement of capital, neoliberal globalization has inundated global markets with foods that are poor in quality because these are hyper processed and contain disproportionate amounts of sugar, salts and other nutrients and the ultimate consequence is that consumption of these foods contributes to poor nutritional outcomes such as overweight, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases—cancers, hypertension, type 2 diabetes among others (Crouth, 2021; 2020 Global Nutrition Report, 2020; HLPE, 2017). Arguably, the workings of the transforming food environment disrupt local food and nutrition literacies that have been in existence and which developed from the interaction of the population with its local food environment. Supermarket expansion is one of the active mechanisms through which these unhealthy foods are distributed (Demmler et al., 2017, 2018; Tsrah et al., 2020) and it is so partly due to poor regulation by relevant regulatory bodies. This line of argument is presented in more detail subsequently.

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4 Food, Nutrition and Health Literacies Food, nutrition, and health literacies are related; they have a common sense of everyday decisions or practices regarding healthy eating. As Vidgen and Gallegos (2014) point out, food literacy refers to a suite of tools needed to build and maintain a healthy lifelong relationship with food. However, considering food literacy as a suite of tools does not easily render the concept for easy comprehension, especially as food literacy can be value laden full of perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and meanings (Drake & Murimi, 2013), hence the need for a working definition to help characterize the concept. In this regard, one of the most comprehensive and commonly used definition of food literacy is offered by Vidgen and Gallegos (2014, p. 54): Food literacy is the scaffolding that empowers individuals, households, communities or nations to protect diet quality through change and strengthen dietary resilience over time. It is composed of a collection of inter-related knowledge, skills and behaviours required to plan, manage, select, prepare and eat food to meet needs and determine intake.

The definition offered above, of food literacy, goes beyond just knowledge. It encompasses all the capabilities, activities, decisions and infrastructure needed to make the right food choices for healthy eating and for healthy lives in different contexts, settings and situations (Poelman et al., 2018). Key to the definition is empowerment; empowering people and communities to be food literate so that they can build a positive and healthy lifelong relationship with food; from food sourcing, preparation to utilization. Implied in the definition is a food environment that functions to assure that the average consumer is able to make the right food decisions. Food literacy is important because higher food literacy is related to better nutritional outcomes, health and wellbeing (Poelman et al., 2018). Adequate food literacy is also argued to enhance individual’s psycho-physical wellbeing through appropriate food choices; while inadequate food literacy is a causal factor of negative consumer behaviour in the food system including confusion in selecting and consuming food (EFAD, 2018; Vidgen & Gallegos, 2011). Food literacy has several components and attributes (Vidgen & Gallegos, 2014; Perry et al., 2017), and these are summarized in Fig. 1 below. In Fig. 1, eleven components of food literacy are presented under four domains including planning and managing, selecting, preparation and eating of food. Conceptually, nutrition literacy is not very different from food literacy as both have the same goal of making right food choice decisions for healthy eating to achieve positive wellbeing. (Even though the two concepts have slight differences as food literacy has a broader scope of activities and components compared to nutrition literacy which focuses more on food intake and how the body makes use of food nutrients for bodily functionality and growth). For example, food literacy has been defined elsewhere as “capacity of an individual to obtain, interpret and understand basic food and nutrition information and services as well as the competence to use that information and related services that are health enhancing” (Vidgen & Gallegos, 2011, p. 33). Therefore, food literacy and nutrition literacy are used interchangeably in this chapter.

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Fig. 1 Components and domains of food literacy (Source Adopted from Vidgen & Gallegos, 2014)

Health literacy on the hand refers to “… the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (Drake & Murimi, 2013). It thus means that the relationship between food literacy and health literacy is that the former is a subset of the latter, as making ‘appropriate health decisions’ includes food and nutrition literacy. For example, the talk about unhealthy eating driving up obesity and other diet-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is a direct linkage among food, nutrition, and health literacies. Food and health literacies share three common components, according to the International Federation for Home Economics; functional (knowledge), interactive (skills), and critical (transformation and empowerment) (Nutbeam, 2008).

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5 Globalization, Food Systems Transformation and Growing Food-Related NCDs As with all forms of goods and services, globalization facilitates easy distribution of food across the world. It thus has the potential to contribute to the attainment of SDGs #1 (no poverty) and #2 (zero hunger) by getting food to where it is needed most. For example, the FAO’s 2019 State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report found that hunger is on the increase globally with 820 million people suffering hunger worldwide while the corresponding prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa is 22.8% of the region’s population. What, however, is of concern is whether the current globalization and market forces, through the food environment being created, are capable of delivering SDG #3—ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. This is a real public health concern given that unhealthy food environments are on the increase and unhealthy food environment is associated with unhealthy eating and poor health (Demmler et al., 2017; 2020 Global Nutrition Report, 2020; MEALS4NCDs, 2019; Tsrah et al., 2020). According to the 2020 Global Nutrition Report, the world faces a double burden of malnutrition where undernutrition coexists with overnutrition such that 1 in 9 people in the world is hungry while 1 in 3 is overweight/obese; that no country in the world is on course to meeting all 10 of the 2025 nutrition targets, while only 8 out of 194 countries are on course to meeting 4 of the 10 targets. The report concludes that overweight and obesity are on the rise in nearly all countries of the world with no sign of decline. Globalization contributes to the double burden of malnutrition by promoting the distribution of highly processed, nutrient poor foods to the world’s population. On average, these foods are cheaper, marketed vigorously and end up dominating the food environment in ways that limit consumer choice in healthy foods. Evidence abound of massive expansion of supermarkets on the African continent and these are the primary outlets for the marketing and distribution of the ‘obesogenic’ foods (Andam et al., 2018; Demmler et al., 2018; Holdsworth et al., 2019; Igumbor et al., 2012; Laar et al., 2019; Peyton et al., 2015; Reardon, 2015; Reardon et al., 2007; Therien, 2017; Tsrah et al., 2020; Weatherspoon & Reardon, 2003). Over the years, increasing neoliberal globalization has bolstered multinational food company chains to expand to new growth frontiers of Africa and the developing world to make up for the decline in their market share in the rich countries (Crouth, 2021; Scrinis, 2016). In so doing, they create unhealthy food environments and aggressively promote the marketing of these obesogenic foods to poor consumers who barely have a choice between healthy and unhealthy foods (2020 Global Nutrition Report, 2020; Crouth, 2021; Tsrah et al., 2020). The result is a growing health crisis in these countries including those of Africa (Crouth, 2021; Demmler et al., 2017, 2018; Tsrah et al., 2020). It is no wonder, therefore, that the disease burden of obesity and other foodrelated non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has significantly shifted to the developing world such that 75% of all diabetic people live in the developing world, Africa has the highest prevalence of hypertension, and three-quarters of NCD-related deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries (Demmler et al., 2017). These

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conditions are growing rapidly in African countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South. Obesity in South Africa and associated conditions have doubled recently, with child obesity in the country being more than twice the global average (13% compared to 6% globally) (Crouth, 2021). Similarly, a study in Kenya found that between 2012 and 2015, the prevalence of overweight and obesity, respectively, increased from 27 to 32 and 14% to 22% among urban households that purchased food from supermarkets (Demmler et al., 2017). In the Ghanaian context, studies have shown that overweight/obesity increased in women from 10% in 1993 to 40% in 2014, and current projections are that about 43% of the Ghanaian adult population is overweight (Tsrah et al., 2020), and much of this could be attributed to eating of unhealthy foods that are abound everywhere in the country (Holdsworth et al., 2019). But just how does the neoliberal globalization food systems transformation contribute to the creation of unhealthy food environments that threaten global public health? The answer to this question may lie in their marketing strategies and disruption in food literacies in communities and populations.

6 Food Systems Transformation, Unhealthy Food Environments and Disrupted Food Literacies The primary tool or strategy used by multinational food retail chains and supermarket outlets is aggressive marketing which often is characterized by false or misleading advertising—on television, around schools, at transport terminals and even over the internet (Amevinya et al., 2020; Halliday et al., 2019; Kelly et al., 2019; Kumi, 2018). Misleading advertising creates misinformation about what the particular food item is actually worth in nutritional sense and that leads to deceiving unsuspecting consumers to purchase these foods. Due to their marketing dominance, supermarkets also sell discounted products to attract more customers but studies have found that many of the food items sold at discounted prices have low quality nutritional value (Peyton et al., 2015; Tsrah et al., 2020). For example, in a study of food advertisement in promotional flyers among supermarket outlets in Accra, Tsrah et al. (2020) found that all the 79 food items found were unhealthy foods (foods that had high concentration of salts, sugar and saturated fats). Yet, these foods were discounted by between 32 and 43%, and the commonest benefit claims were price (54%) and size (34%) with zero nutritional benefit claims. This means that supermarkets use promotional advertising as a marketing strategy to attract people into buying unhealthy foods, and due to many factors including, not least, poverty and lack of knowledge (low literacy) of these processed foods, people fall hook, line, and sinker to these foods. The worrying aspect of the marketing strategies of supermarkets is advertising these unhealthy foods to children and the youth within school environments and television (Amevinya et al., 2020; Kumi, 2018; Scully et al., 2015). Targeting children and the youth is a clever marketing strategy for supermarkets to build a long-term customer base (Cairns et al., 2013) in line with the common saying that ‘catch them

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young, and they shall be yours forever’. By targeting children and the youth, the supermarkets not only succeed in building a long term customer base but also transform local food environments (Wijayaratne et al., 2018) and disrupt local food literacies in favour of reorienting people’s taste and food preferences towards the ‘new’ western food environments (Amevinya et al., 2020). This is where the danger lies. It is estimated that obese teens are up to 70% likely to be overweight at adulthood (Crouth, 2021). Given that overweight is a real risk factor for many NCDs, it is very scary to consider a scenario whereby the greater proportion of the youthful populations across African countries, for example, will be exposed to different manifestations of NCDs in their adult lives. As Karen Hofman puts it, ‘this issue must be addressed early on, [now!]’ (Crouth, 2021). It is instructive to note that the penetrative forces of processed foods are not only limited to populations in big urban centres. A study in Ghana has shown that these foods are prevalent everywhere in the Ghanaian societies, with even the informal retail sector being a more potent channel for distribution in smaller urban centres (Andam et al., 2018). The result is that, the ongoing food systems transformation or transition is associated with high prevalence of poor quality food being sold to the Ghanaian population (Holdsworth et al., 2019). Following from the above, there is no question about whether the neoliberal globalization food systems have negative effects on local food literacies. Rather, the question is how? I dare say that the effects on local food literacies are manifolds. (Let us reflect on the definition of food literacy, which is concerned about everyday practices regarding healthy eating and maintaining a lifelong relationship with food, and that embedded in food literacy are perceptions, beliefs, attitudes, and meanings). It is also important to remind the reader, explicitly, that talk about healthy eating as a consequence of good food literacy is an imperative within the colloquial saying that ‘we eat to live’. Therefore, it matters that we know not just how to eat but how to eat to live longer, hence healthy eating. Being inundated by industrial foods in the food environment, local people lose their preceptive knowledge about food, their beliefs about food and the subjective meanings they ascribe to food. Yet, per the standard definition of food and nutrition security by the FAO (which includes social acceptability of food and food preferences), these perceptions, beliefs and meanings count when assessing the food and nutrition status of a people. Localized food environments emerged from years of interaction between people and their biophysical environment in terms of production, distribution, processing, preparation and consumption of foods. Incredible knowledge and skills were thus established about food. For example, within the localized food system, the Dagbamba (also called Dagomba) people knew which food was eaten by children, pregnant women, and the elderly. They also knew which food was good or bad for what condition, gave rise to or worsened which health problem and which food had therapeutic effect on which health problem. There also was cultural and spiritual aspect of food literacy so that they knew foods that were ‘shared’ with the ancestors, thereby connecting the dead, the living and yet-to-be-born generations through food. With the inundation of the food environment by processed food, this knowledge is lost or no longer applicable. I recall an extraordinary statement

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made by an elderly man in Tamale, Ghana, when I interviewed him about a decade ago. While talking about limited food choices and food preference challenges, he concluded that he ate everyday but people like him (aged) were perpetually hungry because they could not get the type of foods they should be eating at their age. My late traditional birth attendant practitioner grandma also used to complain that pregnant women faced more complications because they no longer ate foods that pregnant women ought to be eating. Therefore, the present neoliberal globalization induced food system transformation has contributed to significant disruptions in the knowledge systems of local foods along the food value chain, leading to food literacy distortions. People do not understand the food they eat, a matter made worst by the fact that information about the true nutritional attributes and food composition is lacking in much of the processed food items (Kent et al., 2018; Laar et al., 2020). People have formed different perceptions about the impact of the foods they now eat. For example, within a section of respondents in Tamale, there is almost a consensus that the dietary changes have resulted in all manner of illnesses including infertility and people belief that there has been general decline in life expectancy because they are eating ‘synthetic’ foods. Groundnuts paste (peanuts butter), which has replaced sesame as the commonest material for preparing soup, is said to cause many health problems including piles and reduced sexual performance in men. Unlike in their local food systems, however, the people do not know which antidotal foods to eat to help address these perceived medical conditions. A knowledge gap is thus created to which the transforming food systems do not as yet provide answers. Returning to food processing companies help by providing relevant nutritional and food composition information, it is not that the knowledge about local food system was codified. Rather, because such knowledge systems emerged in situ, it easily became internalized in the belief systems of a people through socialization and practice. The industrial food processing companies could help consumers by doing truthful labelling of foods to help consumers make the right food choices. However, experience has shown that self-regulation does not work with these companies (Kent et al., 2018), casting doubt on the effectiveness of the self-professed efforts by some of the big food companies to re-engineer their products—by reformulating to reduce levels of harmful food components, fortification to address micronutrient deficiencies, and functionalization to optimize nutrition and health benefits—to make them more healthy (Scrinis, 2016). Therefore, appropriate regulatory systems and structures need to be put in place to regulate packaging and distribution practices of these companies. In the case of Ghana, this is where statutory regulatory bodies such as Ghana Standards Authority, Food and Drugs Authority, Ministry of Trade and Industry come in. Another issue is loss of skills in food preparation. People were experts in preparing the various foods they ate. This assured diversity of food consumed and enhance social acceptability as well. For example, again, among the Dagbamba whose source of protein was largely from plant sources (from beans, bambara beans and cowpeas), they could prepare at least three different meals from beans; using the raw beans alone, a combination with cereals/other pulses or grinding it into flour to make

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different dishes (e.g. gablee, tubaani and koshie). Similarly, dawadawa (condiment made from the seeds of African locust bean fruits) used to be the main seasoning material among the Dagbamba people, while sesame was the main material used to make soup among the same people. However, in an informal group discussion with women in Tamale, it emerged that the present generation has lost the love for both dawadawa and sesame soup. Two reasons were given for this. For dawadawa, the young generation dislikes it for its offensive smell, while for sesame, most of the women said that soup they make from it easily becomes too watery. They are therefore replacing these two with industrial condiments and groundnuts paste, respectively. Yet, these are disliked by many because they cause many health issues. This clearly illustrates loss of food literacy and cooking skills in the larger society. Yet, decline in cooking skills has been identified as one of several home environmental factors that contribute to poor dietary habits and dietary outcomes because low cooking skills means less home cooking and more eating out, and the latter exposes people to unhealthy foods (Wijayaratne et al., 2018). Therefore, the seeming decline in cooking skills should be treated as a serious public health problem and addressed accordingly, swiftly.

7 Where Does the Notion of Global Citizenship Come in in This? The changing food environment has led to reconfiguration of diets and dishes across space along with changing taste and yearning aspirations to eat what is being advertised on television. Currently, there is no notable pizza outlet in Tamale but children in Tamale know about pizza very well. KFC recently opened an outlet in Tamale, and it is perceived as a great achievement in the mind of the youth; having KFC around enhances their modernist urban life experiences. Then the traditional ‘chopbars’ are struggling for survival while emerging fast food sector is enjoying a boom. Ask a 15-year-old to direct you to Charlotte’s fried rice joint in Tamale, and you will be directed there instantly. But the same 15-year-old might not know about a once very popular Ayi Banku chopbar in Tamale. The point being made here is that neoliberal globalization food system transformation has fostered a form of global citizenship around food. And with advances in technology and social media, such reconfiguration creates a convergence of global mindset around food so that a multinational food processing and distribution company feels it is serving the world’s interest by spreading its network of retail chains, but it is rather seeking to make more profit at the expense of people’s wellbeing. Yet, people feel excited about this because having access to those types of food commonly eaten in New York, London, Tokyo or Delhi furthers their modernist sense of belonging within a globalized society. I am not sure this type of identity formation is exactly what Giddens describes in the ‘Modernity and Self-Identity’ but what is happening currently in relation to food system transformation and changing food preferences is

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a mammoth arena where food cultures get homogenized around big food which may lead to self-destructive consequences. Only in few instances that transnational food companies or restaurant chains modify their menus or food composition to suit local conditions like McDonald’s decision to standdown beef burger in India where religious reasons do not permit eating of beef (Shultz, 2010). In most cases, local food knowledge and skills are lost (unconsciously unlearned) while conscious efforts are made to learn new food literacies in the new food environments. However, whatever is learned of the new food environment is less in richness compared to what is lost to local food knowledge systems. Homogenizing of food literacies is a problem. It was noted earlier that development education has as one of its objectives maintaining diversity of human cultures, knowledges and skills so that people are empowered to utilize these to enhance their wellbeing. This is why intercultural/multicultural education has been a part of the conceptualizing and evolution of development education. However, the processes also create a point of dissonance whereby those who are conscious of what is going on and are concerned with the far-reaching negative consequences seek to whip back humanity in line to work with the values of true global citizenship which is anchored on seeking the wellbeing of everyone, everywhere through collaborative efforts and empathic cooperation. Development education can draw on the numerous multinational and intergovernmental policy agreements such as the SDGs to push for the attainment of global citizenship based not on homogeneous cultures but recognition and celebration of multicultural diversity including diversity in food cultures and food literacy. Global action is needed to pursue global citizenship as conceived in development education. And to do this with respect to neoliberal globalization enabled food system transformation, more efforts should be made in regulating the complex processes of food systems transition. Otherwise, much of the global intergovernmental efforts like the SDGs will come to naught. In this regard, it is pertinent to create healthy food environments across societies and countries of the world by legislating to regulate promotion and advertisement of unhealthy foods in settings where children in particular, are the target as well as making appropriate legislation to enforce these regulatory frameworks (Laar et al., 2020). This could be a useful way to re-educate people to acquire new knowledge and literacies to be able to adapt to the evertransforming food system. Some cities and local governments have undertaken to design different strategies to build a healthy food environment through behavioural change and influencing consumer choices including framing and labelling, advertisement of healthy foods, ban on advertisement of unhealthy foods at popular spaces, restructuring of retail spaces so that healthy foods are displayed more prominently and could become default choice upon entry to the stores, and then effective enforcement mechanisms such as fines, revocation of operating licenses for serial breaches (Halliday et al., 2019). It is possible to implement these strategies and measures in institutionally weak context of the Global South, more specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa. For example, Ghanaian government has put in place systems to regulate food processing by ensuring that processed foods minimize the energy density and salt, sugar, trans fats, etc. and also to regulate advertisements that make false claims

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about the true nutritional quality of food (Laar et al., 2020). Also, government could directly and practically ramp up efforts to bring back or sustain the limited local food literacies that remain by prioritizing recruitment of caterers with such local food literacies to work in the public sector, for example caterers working in the Ghana School Feeding Programme as well as those working in public boarding schools. Educational campaigns also need to be designed to demystify or expose the untruths about consuming of unhealthy foods, while promoting local food literacies and consumption of local foods.

8 Conclusion The chapter contends that neoliberal globalization enabled food systems transformation is causing disruptions in local food systems knowledge, skills and food literacies. This transformation in the food systems then creates unhealthy foods environments that expose people to poor diets and food-related non-communicable diseases such as overweight, obesity, diabetics, and hypertension. As the transformation involves transplanting of food cultures in space, there is loss of the perceptive food systems knowledge, local food cultures and practical skills in food preparation. This homogenization of food cultures creates a convergence of food systems knowledge albeit with less depth and diversity, thereby reconfiguring the notion of global citizenship outside of the framing within development education. Given that development education values cultural diversity, the transformative effect of the neoliberal globalization induced food systems transformation needs to be managed well in order to protect key health enhancing food literacies, skills and knowledge. This is the line of argument advanced by those with divergence views of the homogenizing food literacies perpetuated by big food multinational food companies and retail chains. For, there will be far-reaching long-term negative consequences if nothing is done about this. We cannot continue to blame the individual for their food choice decisions as the unhealthy food environment being created is far beyond the control of the individual or a household. Dealing with the situation calls for concerted efforts at multilevels; from global cooperation and collaboration like the intergovernmental action on the SDGs through national policy and programmatic intervention to local level interventions as evidenced in some examples in the developed countries. Some of the tools to employ include legislating to control advertisement of unhealthy foods, mandating and enforcing of food labelling to truthfully provide nutritional and food composition information to prospective consumers, prioritizing of recruitment of caterers with local food literacies to work in public institutions, designing relevant educational campaigns to promote consumption of local foods, instituting award systems for compliance with these strategies as well as reconfiguring of food retail spaces to prioritize marketing of healthy foods.

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Chapter 14

Conclusion: The Futurity of Development Education in Africa Olivia Adwoa Tiwaah Frimpong Kwapong , John Kwame Boateng , and David Addae

Abstract In this chapter, the issue of a sustainable future for African-centred Development Education has been addressed. In the process, the various topics covered in this volume vis-à-vis the steps recommended to be followed in planning a sustainable African-centred Development Education have been identified, explored and highlighted, although rather crisply. Keywords Futurity · African Institutions · African Centred Development Education · African Context · Systems of Support · Learning Barriers

1 Introduction In this chapter, the issue of a sustainable future for African-centred Development Education has been addressed. In the process, the various topics covered in this volume vis-à-vis the steps recommended to be followed in planning a sustainable African-centred Development Education have been identified, explored and highlighted, although rather crisply. Through this, the question of how individuals, institutions, organizations, governments’, nations, and for that matter all stakeholders seeking new ways to ensure that sustainable African-centred development education gains foothold on the African continent in ways that meet the needs of Africans has been exemplified. Specifically, the effort and its corresponding evidence in this O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong · J. K. Boateng (B) School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Legon, LG 31, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong e-mail: [email protected] D. Addae Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies‚ School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Legon, LG 31, Accra, Ghana e-mail: [email protected] Department of Adult, Community and Continuing Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 O. A. T. Frimpong Kwapong et al. (eds.), Reimagining Development Education in Africa, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96001-8_14

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chapter lends support largely to Nudzor’s (2020) argument that on the threshold of the twenty-first century, faced with an increasingly competitive market, a globalized economy, and a context in which change is a constant rather than a variable. African institutions, governments and organizations seeking to promote sustainable African-centred development must “think outside the box” and demonstrate the most advanced methods of income-generation they will use to achieve sustainability in all its forms and thereby ensure that their programme of activities fulfil their missions and have lasting impacts on target groups even after funding regimes for such activities elapse (Nudzor, 2020). In this context and in our view therefore, the need to achieve a secured, sustainable African-centred development education in the future is both tangible and crucial as it enables governments, organizations and institutions to make tremendous strides in increasing income generation internally and thereby see decline in donor dependence. According to Nudzor (2020), higher education institutions tend to benefit from planning sustainability of their educational development issues in four ways. 1.

2.

3.

4.

First, having sustainability plans in place means that organizations, higher education institutions and are enabled to make autonomous decisions that truly reflect local, rather than international priorities. That is, they do not dance necessarily to the whims and caprices of donors mainly because they have greater freedom and independence in deciding on their strategies and activities when they generate their own resources. Second, and following up on the first point, in the process of building sustainability strategies, higher education institutions most often routinely examine their operations and procedures which leads to internal strengthening, enhanced management and team building. Third, when a higher education institution has a clear sustainability strategy and a record of how they intend to generate internal income within its limits, this improves the institutional image of the organization in the eyes of potential and existing partners and can enable them to attract more external support to undertake project activities. Fourth, as higher education institutions build sustainability plans and strategies in their development agenda/proposals, their relationships with partners in development programmes improve and they become recognized and incentivized to negotiate on the basis of exchange rather than as benefactor and recipient.

In working towards this end, the preceding chapters have presented the status and challenges and trends in the development education arena in from contexts such as Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria and South Africa. The authors have described evolution of development education based on what Africa had known and practiced before the advent of colonization. At present, African universities like their counterparts around the world are facing the challenge of continuously declining enrolments in their education programmes. Recent research in Ghana, South Africa and Malawi all proves that there is impetus to the growth of online education in these countries, and with the active participation

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of governments at all levels; this market is expected to record continuous growth in the coming years too. It is clear from the preceding chapters that African-centred development-education is getting traction in almost all parts of the African Continent and is here to stay with implications for governments and businesses of African countries in their bid to decolonize development education.

2 The Future of Development Education in Africa According to Parkin (2020), the future of Africa-centred development education is characterised by socioeconomic and climate-driven chaos. Traditional schooling cannot cope and will be disrupted by enlightened e-learning via smartphones. Africa’s prosperity is dependent on education that grows intellect in the youth, delivered by affordable, accessible mobile learning experiences. Parkin (2020) questions that, if the primary purpose the future development education in Africa is to prepare the youth to thrive in the future, why is education entrusted to institutions so entrenched to the past? Education should be the most aggressively future-driven of all sectors (Parkin, 2020). According to Parkin (2020), B2C education, where creators of powerful learning experiences provide them directly to learners via smartphones, is resisted by the establishment. Yet is the most economical and practical way to immediately provide quality education at a national scale in the entire African continent. The current format of education’s includes batch-processed, synchronous knowledge transfer, requiring cohorts of people to congregate daily in a designated physical location. This has no place in the future. According to Parkin (2020), if schools and government departments do not take the lead, within the next three to five years education will undergo a consumer-led transformation, becomes to self-paced, direct-to-learner, through the use of mobile devices. Physical schools and tertiary institutions will be largely disintermediated and, for institutions and educators to survive, they will have to fundamentally reinvent the nature of their role (Parkin, 2020). Parkin (2020) further observes that, pushing today’s content and processes online is merely changing the channel. It serves no purpose unless the learning experience changes too. The way curricula are formulated must be completely re-architected and recreated, so that the processes which result in learning become continuously compulsive and motivating. By this standard, most existing e-learning earns a Fail (Parkin, 2020). To someone learning largely on their own, a textbook can never be a page-turner, whether it is printed on paper or transferred to a little screen. A remote teacher, either zoomed or recorded, cannot engender the same quality of connection with each individual that is achieved in a classroom. Parkin (2020) argues that a cheap quick would be counterproductive in education as it is in other industries. Mobile e-learning must be architected to achieve a compelling learner experience. It must be produced creatively and professionally with a serious budget, if it is to become a powerful, scalable learning solution in the post-proximity knowledge-ubiquity future we are facing (Parkin, 2020).

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The human capitalist theory and to some extent the modernization theory constitute the framework for building cases to show that education enhances development. The human capital theory holds that the most efficient path to national development lies in the upliftment of a country’s population. Thus, educators and almost even socio-economic planners do agree that the best way to improve the lot of the population is through various forms of education and training. People and thinkers who understand education to be crucial to development also draw inspiration from the modernization theory. Such thinkers including (Alex Inkeles) and his colleague’s belief that to modernize is to develop and that society cannot develop unless its population holds modern attitudes and values. They see a direct link between education and socio-economic development, in that education brings about a change in outlook in the individual which promotes productivity and work efficiency. Education has a modernizing influence on values, beliefs and behaviours which make human beings more development oriented. The modernization theory calls on education to re-orientate and suppress beliefs, attitudes and values which tend to obstruct the initiation of the modernization process. Likewise, proponents of Human Capital Theory assumed that formal education is highly instrumental to the improvement of the productive capacity of a population. The improvements of the productive capacity of the human work force in this sense is a form of capital investment. Human capital theorists postulated that the most efficient path to national development lies in the improvement of human capital through education. They also contended that the two pre-conditions for economic growth and development in any nation or economy are where investments in education and improvement in technology are pursued. The above framework or theory has provided the basis for a considerable amount of educational resource and policy through the developed and developing world. This orientation championed by Schultz and associates have dominated the thinking in Economics of Education throughout the sixties and formed the basis for manpower planning models used in forecasting educational enrolments required for specific development needs. Campt (2017), provided the theoretical and methodological means necessary to contemplate what black refusal and resistance might sound like, to listen to images in addition to seeing them. A cogent combination of black feminist inquiry and diasporic visual culture, Listening to Images reclaimed the photographic archives of precarious and dispossessed black subjects in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twentyfirst centuries by attending to the quiet but resonant frequencies of images that have been historically dismissed and disregarded. Campt asks two essential questions in her introduction: “How do Africans in general and those in Diaspora build a radical visual archive of the that grapples with the recalcitrant and disaffected, the unruly and the dispossessed? and through what modalities of perception, encounter, and engagement do we constitute it?” (Campt, 2017, Introduction). To live for the future now in African educational and development futurity, it makes a good case to revisit the implications of Campt’s book for developing a grammar of indigenous African futurity that strives and lives for the future now, in

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the present and drawing from lessons of the past. Decolonization of development education in afrocentric context must embrace multiple approaches and paths for African and colonized people. Africa can no longer afford the domestication of a decolonization project because when a decolonization project becomes mainstream, it is no longer decolonization. Certainly, the ideas of ‘another world is possible’. ‘Something different is possible’ and the possibility of another possible is here with Africa in the decolonization of development education. There is critical need for international solidarity among Africa’s indigenous, colonized and exploited peoples to highlight the power of subaltern and sub-intern difference. Africa, kind of need a recreation of Arturo Escober’s espousition of anti-capitalist, anti-globalization imaginary the emergence of self-organizing social movements that operates with the logic counter hegemonic self-globalization (Escobar, 2004, p. 207). The search for a ‘new world’ or new Africa built on inclusions and not on exclusions and exploitations, on self-determination, resource autonomy, human dignity and respect for sovereignty of nations does calls for a critical redress of the issues emanating from the four categories of decolonizing work namely, structures, epistemologies, actions and relational decolonizing as outlined in Chapter 2. Decolonising the African development education scholarship and teaching should never downplay redistribution and reopening of material resources and opportunities such as institutions, jobs, titles, professional recognition, research budgets, leadership and gatekeeping roles, scholarships, and entries of admission that are currently distributed in ways that echo and reproduce colonial relations. If this is not done well, progress is slowed and it perpetuates oppressions in one area that elsewhere is dismantled. Moreover, because epicoloniality is multisited and multidimensional (Kessi et al., 2020), inequalities are often mutually reinforcing and adaptive, such that progress in one area does not necessarily lead to progress in others. The futuristic African Centred development education should be innovative and embrace technology employed in the fourth industrial revolution. It should focus on African creativity, critical thinking, effective communication and collaboration, problem solving and computational learning skills. Twenty first century technologies for teaching and learning should be employed to expose students and instructors innovative approaches in teaching, learning and carrying out research to solve problems in the African context. These approaches must include active teaching and learning strategies, innovative pedagogy and effective use of learning management systems that are customized to suit the African context, open educational electronic resources and internet multimedia applications that are innovative and customized to suit the African context for academic and professional work in the digital age. The new African centred development education curriculum must engage students in individual and team projects and assignments and case studies that provide opportunities to apply the knowledge, creating mindsets and skills of innovative Afrocentric thinking to comprehend complex African related problems that leads to prompt and practical action-oriented approaches for solving problems. The futuristic African centred development education agenda, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, should target the delivery of quality

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education, promoting descent work and economic growth for Africa, building industry, innovation and infrastructure. To tie things up, African countries, confronted with the critical issues of migration, rural development, urbanization, and human resource development, will have to put the necessary infrastructure in place to keep pace in meeting these growing and changing needs, and to reconsider the policy approaches to problems of the demand and supply of the educational equation. To invest heavily in the quantitative expansion of the formal systems of education with some modifications to curriculum content, structure of examinations and subject offerings in an endeavour to meet the demand, while retaining the same institutional labour market structures, will further exacerbate the problems of inequality and poverty, unemployment and underemployment, structural imbalances of rural–urban migration and imbalances in the rural–urban economic opportunities. It is often said that educational systems for the most part reflect and reproduce social and economic structures of societies where they operate, rather than change them. Therefore, any strategic approach or policies designed to address these problems should consider reforming the educational system to make it more relevant for development needs and to increase its internal consistency or effectiveness and equity.

3 Africa to Lead the Change Africa is qualified by every measure to spearhead this future change of direction for development education. This is so because, in Africa, the ‘’normal” education finds its poorest fit with socioeconomic realities, very young populations often growing faster than the economy, mushrooming informal urban settlements, widening chasms between rich and poor, inadequate government budgets for school construction, teacher training or textbooks, and a youth who have to trade off attending school against feeding their families. But everywhere, even among the poorest, mobile communication is second nature. In Tanzania, for example, mobile internet has a greater penetration than television or radio. Self-study via mobile phone will find a far more ready market here than in nations relatively well served by ‘’normal” education. For Africa to lead such a change, in the higher education system, there is need for the following: 1.

2.

Create a collaborative multi-tiered system of supports to meet student needs and address learning barriers both in and out of the classroom based on a shared developmental framework uniting staff, families, and sup- port providers. Develop internal student support structures (e.g., counselling and student support teams) and coordinate access to integrated services (including physical and mental health and social service supports) that enable children’s healthy development, via on-site supports and partnerships with community providers.

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Extended learning opportunities should be designed to support personalized instruction and mentoring that nurture positive developmental relationships, support mastery learning, and close achievement gaps. Supports systems for students can take many forms, including multi-tiered systems of support, including emotional and social supports such as access to an integrated system of services, and extended learning opportunities. These supports aim to remove barriers to school success by reaching all students with the kind of support needed. Importantly, they connect students and families to services that promote holistic development, including students’ physical and mental health, as well as needed opportunities to learn, as these capacities are vital to social and academic success.

4 Concluding Thoughts The foundational knowledge provided by the sciences of learning and development, coupled with decades of insights from educational research, does provide a framework for supporting welfare across the wide range of contexts. According to Darling-Hammond et al. (2019), this knowledge base indicates the importance of rethinking institutions designed a century ago based on factory-model conceptions of organizations that privileged standardization and minimized relationships. The framework indicates how institutions including higher education institutions and schools can be organized around developmentally-supportive relationships that are coherent and have well-integrated approaches to supports, including family, home and campus connections; well-scaffolded instruction that intentionally supports the development of social, emotional, and academic skills, habits, and mindsets and culturally competent, personalized responses to the assets and needs that each individual student presents (According to Darling-Hammond et al., 2020). The leadership of African higher education institutions can never work independently to implement the breadth and depth of practices suggested by this chapter. They will need and will depend upon policies that enable these African higher education systems to address the scale of re-organization required. Challenges to implementation does include limitations of curriculum available to address the range of goals suggested and the breadth of knowledge that instructors and faculty need to learn to adapt such curricula in ways that address students’ needs, limitations of current assessments for addressing learning aimed at transfer and higher order thinking and performance skills, and insufficient supports for faculty and administrators in the higher education systems, district and regional or state levels to develop the requisite knowledge base and dispositions to carry out the quality of teaching and organization of schools suggested here. Darling-Hammond (2010), reveals that evidence from successful strategies and programmes illustrates that it is possible to support productive learning and development for learners and shows that analyses of ambitious, integrated approaches to

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education at the school, district, state, and national levels have shown that with intensive preparation, purposeful curriculum systems, and equitable resources, educators can create supportive environments for learners that enable healthy development and powerful learning, even for those who experience the adverse effects of poverty (see, for example, Darling-Hammond, 2010). These examples make it clear that broader application of this knowledge base cannot be the responsibility of faculty and the leadership of the higher education systems in Africa alone. Adequate support and preparation for educators is needed alongside the development of thoughtful curriculum and assessments, as well as sound resource policy based on students’ needs, is required to achieve the goals of the future African-centred Development Education working at scale across the African Continent.

References Campt, T. M. (2017). Quiet soundings: The Grammar of Black futurity. In Listening to images, 13–46, Chapter 1. New York, NY: Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/978082237358 2-003 Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: How America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press. Darling-Hammond, L., Flook, L., Cook-Harvey, C., Barron, B., & Osher, D. (2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791 Darling-Hammond, L., Wise, A. E., & Klein, S. P. (2019). A license to teach: Building a profession for 21st-century schools. Routledge. Escobar, A. (2004). Beyond the third world: Imperial globality, global coloniality and antiglobalisation social movements. Third World Quarterly, 25(1), 207–230. http://www.jstor.org/ stable/3993785 Kessi, S., Marks, Z., & Ramugondo, E. (2020). Decolonizing African studies. Critical African Studies, 12(3), 271–282. Nudzor, H. P. (2020, September 15). Addressing sustainability planning in higher education research, education at the intersection of globalization and technology, ed. Sharon Waller, Lee Waller, Vongai Mpofu and Mercy Kurebwa. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen. 93589. Available from https://www.intechopen.com/books/education-at-the-intersection-of-glo balization-and-technology/addressing-sustainability-planning-in-higher-education-research Parkin, G. (2020, June). The future of education in Africa. Publication by Britefire, a digital strategy consulting firm based in Cape Town. Retrieved June 28, 2021, from https://medium.com/swlh/ the-future-of-education-in-africa-76584600bd7a