From:
Carrie Auer, from Aranita Book Discussion group
Let
me, using the above statement (observation) briefly refer to the internal and external
environments that face or will face Africa in the coming decades in order for us
to appreciate the need for educational research which is relevant, which targets
issues considered germane, and which utilises appropriate strategies.
The
Internal Environment
In
Africa, living standards - often the lowest of the world in the post war years -
have fallen, erasing decades of progress. According to the World Bank XOO
million people do not receive sufficient food to carry on an active working
life. About half the working-age population is unemployed or underemployed. Half
of the city's dwellers live in shanty-towns which double in population every ten
years. Besides, these figures do not reflect the pressures on the environment
exacted by poverty, pressures that threaten every citizen of the world (Hesser,
1989, p.4). The continuing economic crisis, the problems created by the massive
flow of refugees in recent years, natural disasters, and the spread of the
HIV/AIDS pandemic have evoked collective actions. Internally, the challenges in
addition, to eradicating poverty and hunger, will be to consolidate and heighten
the fledgling democracy, social cohesion, equity and participation.
The
immediate causes go beyond the prolonged drought due to failure of the rains in
large parts of the continent, especially in the Sahelian and sub-desert areas of
West, East and Southern Africa, and the growing problem of creeping
desertification. They stem, to a large extent, from general environmental
mismanagement and organisation, political misdirection or apathy and the
improper ordering of priorities.
Africa
need not be poor, but it is very poor; its people do not need to be hungry, but
they are extremely hungry and starving. In the presence of actual and potential
abundance of natural and human resources, we have become the poor and helpless
relations of the human race. It is within the context of these realities that
any purposefUl discussion of research in general and educational research in
particular, in Africa can really take place.
The
External Environment
Externally
Africa faces a number of challenges, including impact of the new knowledge base; the globalization of world economies, and issues
related to sustainable development. We
comment briefly on each of these in turn.
There
is a major transformation in society that is taking place globally, resulting in
the emergence of what has been called the knowledge society, with
knowledge in a broad and generic
sense rather than the production of physical goods, playing a major role in the
new society. "A driving force
for this change is the development of modem electronic information technology
with its powerful capabilities of creating, processing, and storing and
distributing information" (Hagstr(jm, 1995).
In
addition there is a new global dynamic brought on by trade agreements. There is
the 'North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which brings together Canada,
US4 and Mexico. Chile is expected to join the ranks of this trade agreement
soon. There is the European Economic Union (ECU) now European Union ~U) which
brought together nine countries, a number that has recently risen to twelve.
There are the 18 members who constitute the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
The
LomC Convention is an international treaty between the 12 member states of the
European Community and 69 African, Carribean, and Pacific countries known
collectively as ACP. The first Lom~ Convention was signed in 1975 and covered a
five-year period. Its negotiation
was at the time seen as something of a water-shed in post-colonial relations
between the EU and former colonies in Africa, the Carribean and the Pacific. The
first Convention involved a European Community of 9 states and an ACP grouping
of 44 countries.
Since
then LomC membership has expanded to an ECU of 12 and an ACP of 69, including,
since the signing ofLomC IV, all the independent countries of Sub-Saharan
Africa.
Globally,
we shall soon see the powerful potential of the trade agreements blur out
economic and thus educational borders. The World Trade Organisation and
its General Agreement on Trade in Service (GATS) will predictably have a major
impact on those higher education systems, including Colleges of Educatin, which
are paying attention. If national higher education systems do not recognise the
need to prepare their students for new national and global realities, they run
the risk of allowing their national professional labour force to be displaced
better globally oriented foreign nationals.
With
respect to the concept of sustainable development it is important to note five
international events which have contributed greatly to a rethinking and new
paradigm of development :
i)
In 1987 a new concept - sustainable development was born. This is development
that is defined as satisfying the present generation's needs without endangering
the possibilities of future generations satisfying their needs and choosing
their lifestyle;
ii)
In 1990 UNDP came up with a new definition: human development - defined as a
process of expanding people's choices. Three areas are highlighted as
essential: (a) a long and healthy life; (b)
education; (c) a decent standard of living. Human development means that the
productive and creative energies of people must be
mobilised and that it is decisively important to invest in them.
Sustainable human development requires
our moral obligation "to sustain for the next generation the opportunity
and the same kind of well being that we possess" with particular emphases
put on human security, which always had the two components of freedom
from fear and freedom from want.
iii)
In 1993 the World Conference on human rights in Vienna stipulated the
universality of
human rights, rejecting attempts which make human rights relative to
cultural conditions.
iv)
In 1995 the World Summit on social development held in Copenhagen focused on
"social issues" in the face of global unemployment. Poverty and
social exclusion was put on the agenda,
with emphasis on creating jobs, and social security systems.
v) In
1995 at the Beiiing Conference the importance of the special role of women in
the entire development process was
underlined.
Governments
of industrial and developing countries have agreed to all the above dimensions,
including sustainable human development. Yet there is often a wide gap between
word and deed and many politicians tend to look more towards the next election
date than to the next generation. This is why new alliances - national and
international - have to be forged between various groups, including teacher
educators, teachers unions, environmental movements, NGOs, scholars, those in
politics and international organisations who can be won as supporters. I shall
return to the point of alliances or partnerships later.
In
the developed countries and the successful cases of the so called late
industrialisation" or "tiger economies" in other areas, there is
a clear recognition of the central role that education,
and in turn, teacher education, play in the development process. The
transmission ofv alues, the ethical dimension and the forms of behaviour typical
of modern citizenship, together with the generation of the capacities and skills
which are essential for international competitiveness (which is increasingly
based on technical progress), receive a decisive boost from education and the
production of knowledge in a society. Mary Hanvood Futrell, former President of
the National Education Association, put the case of importance of education (and
teacher education) as well as the need for global cooperation in education when
she stated: (and she was speaking about America).
Throughout
our land, there has taken root a new consensus - a consensus which states that
an investment in children today is an investment in a
tomorrow of peace... What brought about this new consensus? Perhaps, a
taste, bittersweet, of reality? In support of this assumption let me invoke
the date in October, 1987. That was the day that the stock market fell by
over 500 points. That day jolted America. And on that day, I believe, we
began to see that our economy is intertwined with all economies, that we
do indeed live in a global village, that the economic competition within
that village is often fierce, and that
the United States is by no means the guaranteed
victor ...
I
maintain that we face an undeniable imperative for educational
improvements that will enhance America's competitive edge in the world
economic community. But I will also maintain that the gross national
product is not - and never can be - a measure of our worth as a people
...
The
foundation of global education is an attitude, an attitude that affirms
the oneness of the human family - an attitude best embodied in the phrase
"with malice for none, with charity for all...". Unless we
recognise this decisive fact, we will,
fear, subordinate international cooperation to international
competition. We will, I fear, build not bridges to
understanding but barriers to understanding CHesser, 1989, p.34). That
can be said of all of our countries.
Let
me turn briefly to a consideration on issues related to "duality of
life" the major thrust of this symposium, and later on to implications for
educational research, areas of priority and strategies for implementation.
Quality
of Life
It
might be helpful to spend a couple of minutes indicating what I mean or
understand by
"quality
of life". Perhaps the definition is in part at least provided perhaps
implicitly if not
explicitly
by our description of the internal and external conditions and inference of what
could
be better conditions. But let me refer to wiser counsel for guidance.
The
great British geography, J H Fleure, once described human life as proceeding in
three
progressive
stages: Life, More Life and the Good Life. At the level of Life, man is
barely
able to survive on the basis of what he can eke out of nature. At the level of
More
Life,
he has more than his immediate needs and is able to expand his production base
and
to
increase his kind without too much anxiety about the future, while at the level
of the
Good
Life, he is virtual master of the situation. All his basic needs have been
satisfied and
he
can devote a considerable part of his attention to creature comforts and
luxuries and to
intellectual
and spiritual pursuits.
In
Africa today, people at all three levels can be found, but those in the bottom
and middle
tiers
are far in the majority. But even for the more fortunate sectors of the
population
there
still remain serious uncertainties about the future.
Another
authority (Maslow, 1954) advanced a theory of human needs referred to as a
hierarchy
of needs In his theory, Maslow pointed out that some needs, particularly
physiological
needs, are basic to others. It follows that such needs must be satisfied
before
higher needs can be felt and fulfilled.
According
to Maslow's view of motivation, physiological needs are the strongest, the
most
demanding of satisfaction. It is reasonable to expect, therefore, that drive
reduction
will
be aimed primarily at these lowest of needs.
If
the needs at the physiological level have been fulfilled, the person concerned
will be
faced
with the next level of needs - the safety needs - being the need to avoid or
escape
danger
and the need to be secure and protected. This is followed by the need to be
loved
and
to belong; to have friends and family and to be part of a group.
There
is also what is called the need for self-esteem - the need to have the respect,
confidence
and admiration of others and to gain self-confidence and self respect. Once all
of
these needs have been fUlfilled the person will be motivated towards self-actualisation
-
towards knowing and understanding, and towards finding (deriving) satisfaction
from
being
sensitive to the beauty of human beings, their accomplishments, and their
natural
environment.
Perhaps put differently in a sentence by no less a person than AUbert
Einstein,
"An empty stomach is not a good political advisor"!
A
more recent authority (Amar, 1996) talks of "quality of life" in
particular reference to
children,
to the concept of quality of life as an open, unfinished project that is
continually
moving
towards its realization. Quality refers to a number of qualities that are in
constant
construction.
It cannot be defined as an entity with a complete, absolute nature identical
unto
itself. Nor can it be reduced to its most visible means and products. Above all,
it
must
be true to itself and to the specific social context in which it is set, while
at the same
time
maintaining a universal perspective of human development as a mandatory
reference.
From
this perspective, improving the quality of life is based on people's capacity
for
action,
their deeds and ideals for themselves and their community. It means that groups
recognise
and take their situation in their own hands to transform and enrich it. This
defines
quality of life as a social and historically determined concept that starts with
the
needs
and interests of the community. The goal is the realization of an authentic life
project
rooted in a country's specific situation. It relies on the participation of all
social
actors.
At the centre is the child, who acts like a catalyst for releasing the energy
needed
in
order to seek a qualitative change in living conditions. It is evident that to
obtain a
quality
of life focus, a great deals remains to be explored.
However
imperfectly or imprecisely "quality oflife" may have been defined, I
would like
us to
use this as a guide to examine some of the areas that I think we could conduct
research
on that would, eventually at least, lead to improvement of quality of life in
eastern
and southern Africa. We now turn to a brief consideration of these areas.
Some
areas for urgent focus for Research
Whether
the list of priorities that we draw up for research is long or short, it must
include
areas
that will enable us to deal effectively with the human and related or
consequential
environmental
problems that stare us in the face in our continent today: hunger,
malnutrition,
filth, squalor, poverty, poor sanitation and housing, ignorance, poor harvest,
pests
and the unduly high incidence of preventable and curable diseases that affect
human
beings,
and particularly children, mismanagement, "man-eat-man" tendencies;
and the
rapid
and progressive deterioration of the natural environment on which we depend for
our
very existence. I can only refer to those areas that are close to my heart, to
provide a
flavour
of what could be done; obviously you have your own lists. I refer to work which
could
be done in the area of early childhood; to the girl child and women; to
empowerment
of families to look after their children; to work in curriculum, particularly
for
teacher education; to work in distance education; to work in adult education,
and to
partnerships.
1.
Culturally relevant work on early childhood
There is need for work on early child development ~CD) which should
include action
research that reflects community values and actions, that respects
diverse local
cultures and traditions, and that enables culturally appropriate
interventions to improve
the healthy development of children. A culturally sensitive, inclusive
programme of
action research rests on numerous assumptions:
·
Cultural diversity is a potential source of enrichment for theory, method,
training, and
practice in ECD.
·
All work in ECD occurs in a global context of unequal relations between the
minority
world countries of the North and the majority world countries of the
South;
asymmetries ofwealth, power, and status influence all aspects of
development work
and of knowledge construction and utilization.
·
There is a dearth of research on young children and their circumstances in the
majority
world countries ofthe South.
·
Current theory, research, and methodology derived from Western empiricism are
often
misapplied or misleading; although Western-based ECD research has
considerable
value; it does not apply directly in all contexts and must be examined
value, it does
not
apply directly in all contexts and must be examined critically with an eye
toward
issues of cultural relevance.
·
The study of young children should be situated in a social, political, economic,
and
historic framework; neither children nor ECD researchers can be separated
from their
context .
·
Research should do more than generate knowledge - it should be linked to action
and
policy changes that improve the condition of children.
The
agenda for action research ought to include the use of research strategies that
blend
qualitative
and quantitative methods, use the tools and perspectives of diverse disciplines
,
enable
participation by local communities, and incorporate historical perspectives. The
understanding
of both children and their context requires a multidisciplinary evolving,
multidimensional
social context and that communities should be treated neither as objects
nor
as loci for research but as co-participants from whom there is much to be
learned.
Local
communities should help to define the research goals, questions research
outcomes
to
improve their children' s condition through local action and advocacy for
enlightened
social
policy. Researchers should learn from local knowledge and traditions, and they
should
invite the participation of community members, including children, in the
perception,
implementation and interpretation of the research.
Action
research should give particular attention to the following topics:
·
traditional and local practices of childrearing;
·
local and traditional perceptions and understandings of the child and his/her
place in
society;
·
exploration of kin and family structures and the child/children within them;
·
the impact on children of social conditions such as poverty, sexual
exploitation, abuse
and armed conflict;
·
local and traditional forms of art and culture (stories, songs, puppets, poetry,
pottery,
weaving, games, dances, drawings, etc) that reflect and transmit
children's values; this
research should also embody the places where they happen and the people
who
transmit them.
To
enable action research to be multidisciplinary and inclusive, it is essential to
draw upon
local
networks that embody local knowledge and traditions; research links with
communities
(including children), within regions, and with governments, NGOs,
universities,
and other partners.
2.
Work on the girl-child and women
Studies
should particularly target the girl-child, since the fUture of the girl-child in
the
world
is a bleak one. The world observes that gender biases which deny equal
opportunity
to
girls and women are an abuse on human rights and an affront to any rational
concept of
sustained
development. Yet of the 100 million children between 7-12 year old children
not
in school around the world, two thirds are girls.
At
family level the education ofgirls, it has been repeatedly shown, is closely
associated
with
a falling infant mortality; a falling birth-rate; and improved nutrition. In
short, the
health
and well-being of the family is highly dependent on the literacy of the mother.
At
national level it has been observed that discrimination against women in the
education
sector
will rebound on nations that ignore their needs for decades to come. Educated
women
have a direct impact on nation's GNP through higher productivity, and on the
healthy
development of children through knowledge of basics such as good nutrition,
hygiene,
oral rehydration against diarrhoeal dehydration, immunisation, and family
planning.
Studies have repeatedly shown that educated women tend to marry later, have
fewer
and healthier children, and to multiply those advantages by investing in the
education
oftheir offspring.
Given
all this information, and knowledge, how isthe situation on the ground in Africa
with
respect to gender issues?
A
major theme of The Progress of National 1997 Report is Violence Against Women
and
Girls. According to the Report more than 60 million women should be alive today
are
"missing"
because of violence associated with gender discrimination. Millions more, in
every
country, on every continent, and of every class, live under the daily threat of
physical
abuse. Carol Bellamy says, "In today' s world, to be born female is to be
born
high
risk. Every girl grows up under the threat of violence ... which deliberates
them
physically,
psychologically and socially. It affects the healthy social and economic
development
of all societies".
Permit me to red to you a few paragraphs from the Chapter by Charlotte
Bunch. "Imagine a people routinely subjected to assault, rape,
sexual
slavery, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, verbal abuse, mutilation, even
murder --- all because they were born into a particular group. Imagine
fUrther that their sufferings were compounded by systematic
discrimination
and humiliation in the home and workplace, in classrooms, at worship and
at play. Few would deny that this group had been singled out for gross
violations of human rights. Such a group exists. Its members comprise
half humanity.
Yet
it is rarely acknowledged that violence against women and girls, many of
whom
are brutalised from cradle to grave simply because of their gender, is the
most
pervasive human rights violation in the world today.
Gender
violence is also a major health and development issue, with powerfUl
implications
for coming generations as well as society in general. Eliminating this
violence
is essential to constructing the paradigm of human security - and by that I
mean
peace, peace at home and peace at large. Without it, the notion of human
progress
is merely a fantasy. However, opening the door on the subject of
violence
against the world' s females is like standing at the threshold of an immense
dark
chamber vibrating with collective anguish, but with the sounds of protest
throttled
back to a murmur. Where there should be outrage aimed at an intolerable
status
quo there is instead denial, and the largely passive acceptance of"the way
thing
are"
Some
broad cjuestions that could be explored in gender studies could include the
following:
i)
What is the context in which children develop gender identity?
ii)
What factors affect gender identity and expectations?
iii)
What are the factors that affect how children are socialised?
iv)
What is the role of education in socialization?
3.
Empowerment of families
At
the global forum held in April 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, US4 considerable
emphasis
families to enable them to care better far
was
placed on the need to provide support to
their
children. The aspirations of parents and kin for their children contain far and
away
the
most relevant of child development objectives. For it is the family more than
any other
social
institution, that determines and predicts what a child's core developmental
outcomes
will likely be. The family is virtually every child's source oflife, primary
nurture,
immediate physical safety and identity. Moreover, the family in all our cultures
and
sub-cultures is a child's most significant pro~ider offood, clothing, shelter,
and access
to
wider experience. Equally important, the family is virtually every child's most
critical
source
oflife, knowledge, social skills, intimacy, confidence, connection, and belief.
All of
this
underlines the need to empower the family to look after and bring up children
better;
and
the need to provide answers on how this empowerment can be provided. An
empowered
family is a family able to secure more positive outcomes for their children.
There
are several criteria we can use to identify an empowered family. Examples
include
the
following six.
i)
First of all, an empowered family is one that has the information, the
right, the
power, the resources to control the timing of its information and the
frequency of its
child bearing. The fourteen year-old mother in Swaziland or the thirteen
child family
in Kenya living in Mathare Valley do not possess this control and the
consequences
will be measured in their children's diminished futures.
ii)
Second, an empowered family is one equipped with the knowledge, skills and
education required to both protect their children from avoidable
environmental and
health risks and - at the same time - to provide their children with
basic and essential
developmental experiences.
iii) Third,
an empowered family is one that has the opportunity and the skills to capture
and control enough resources to at least meet their children's minimum
need for
food, clothing and shelter. Children born to dependent and destitute
parents are the
children at greatest risk of adverse outcomes.
iv)
Fourth, an empowered family is one that has the capacity and autonomy to shield
its
children from destructive involvement in broader adult conflicts and
other societal
violence. There is an increasing number of families which are unable to
provide their
children with refUge from war and violent crime. It is a tragedy measured
each year
by the deaths of thousands of youth who never reach adulthood.
v)
Fifth, an empowered family is one that has reliable access to networks of
other
caring adults - adults who can supplement or substitute for parental care
in times of
family stress and crisis or in the event of parental disability or death.
Across our
continent tens of thousands of young families are being driven or drawn
to cities.
But what they frequently do not hnd in their crowded new urban co~nes are
support systems or affiliations to take the place of the kinship networks
and
traditional community supports they left behind in the rural areas. The
resulting
family
isolation and fragility is now being measured in growing rates of child
abandonment, neglect, and homelessness, leading to the "street
children"
phenomenon increasingly evident in African cities.
vi)
The sixth attribute of an empowered family is that its children have access to
affordable and effective schools - to educational opportunities that
enable children to
acquire knowledge, develop skills, and cultivate talents far beyond what
they could
obtain from their parents or relatives alone. The vitality of families
across
generations and the overall welfare of communities now depends on
equipping each
generation with the skills that a new world demands. This empowerment of
families
can be strengthened and supported from the results ofresearch. (Nelson,
1996).
4.
Concerns Relating to Curriculum of teacher education, methodology and quality
President
John F Kennedy drew attention to the importance of education when he stated in
his
message to Congress on 20" February, 1961, "Our progress as a nation
can be no
swifter
than our progress in education ... The human mind is our fundamental
resource".
Other equally important tenets to which Z subscribe include the following:
i)
Theeconomic prosperity of the nation is dependent on the quality of the
educational system;
ii)
The quality of the educational system is dependent on the quality of the
teachers;
iii)
The quality of teachers is dependent on the quality of teacher education.
A
teacher education programme anywhere in the world would normally be concerned
about
a number of areas in the preparation of teachers, including the curriculum of
teacher
education,
methodology, and quality. a word about each of these would be in order.
The
curriculum of teacher education, methodology and quality
The
curriculum for teacher education needs to be seen as part of the wider
curriculum for
school
education of a country. It is therefore linked at every stage with the
curriculum of
the
schools for which it prepares teachers, for all work of teacher education and
all the
labours
of those preparing school curriculum are directed at the same point, helping the
learners
learn better.
The
curriculum of a college must also be seen as part of a wider curriculum for
teacher
education
- pre-service, and in-service. The curriculum is concerned with needs - needs
of
the schools; needs of students as individuals; needs of the communities and the
nation;
needs
of the international community. Consideration should also be given to
priorities:
"survival
priorities" which a beginning teacher needs in school during his first
years of
teaching;
academic priorities, which involve the need to concentrate on the core
curriculum
in which all children must be grounded, and development priorities including
basic
preventive health, better soil use, and the conservation of natural resources,
which,
certainly
in developing countries, are vital for the well being of communities.
In
addition to considering needs, there is need to examine the methodologies of
colleges of
education.
There is need to link content with methodology, as well as need to widen our
approach
to methodology. We also need to devise appropriate methodologies for specific
countries.
For example in many African countries there is need to take into account
teaching
classes in difficult circumstances: big classes of 80 pupils to a teacher;
classes
without
classrooms; teachers teaching two classes at the same time. Finally, we need to
select
and develop methodologies which are particularly appropriate to local cultures.
We
need in a teacher education programme which is relevant to context; to needs; to
humanity
and to something more. We comment briefly on each of these in turn.
Relevance
to context
Relevance
to context is both clear and unambiguous. An alien education is both
unproductive
and psychologically disturbing, leading often to dangerous forms of half
learning
where children can answer questions on content yet do not Illy understand what
they
are being asked or what they are saying in their answers. Such a system was what
was
contained in the Cape syllabus for Namibian children before independence. Such a
system
is what many of our countries originally inherited from the colonial governments
and
which many have attempted to modify and reform with varying degrees of success.
Relevance
to needs
The
programme should be relevant to:
i)
the needs of rural societies (such as those found in Third World countries) with
all that
implies in terms of language, self-reliance training, and use of
intermediate appropriate
technology.
ii)
the needs of advanced technology which children anywhere must master, if they
are
not to become totally dependent on the ideas and machines of others. To
match these
conflicting needs is the challenge of many poor countries with high
aspirations.
Relevance
to humanity
Most
of us will know the inspired word of John Donne when he reminds us that 'T\To
man
is an
island "... and "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls. It tolls
for thee." In our
increasinglyinterdependent
world which, in so many different ways is trying to tear itself
apart:
·
through aggression;
·
through overpopulation in relation to food supply
