Paper long abstract:

In many African countries there are official schooling and traditional education systems based on craft apprenticeship in workshops or training centers. While school is considered to be official and most of the time promoted by governments, craft apprenticeship is generally believed to be meant for people who cannot do well in the formal education system or those whose parents cannot afford to sponsor their education (cf. Adekola 2013: 403). Paradoxically, nowadays an important part of the unemployed youths has academic grades or have been to school for many years (cf. Gnanou 2017 :89).

To face this situation some youths, after Schooling or their studies at universities, decide to engage in craft apprenticeship. In African countries craft apprenticeship, which includes the work system is a preparation for the adulthood. It emphasized job orientation and moral values (cf. Adekola 2013: 398). In this paper I want to highlight two new trends in education system in African countries that are linked to each other. The first is the application of the "Ritualism concept" of Robert king Merton (cf. Merton 1938) to the way parents send children to school and the way of schooling of young people in secondary school and universities. The second is the analysis of decision-making process of in-school-youths and students who decide to return to craft apprenticeship. I will illustrate both aspects with empirical data from Benin, where some young men and women that after their university studies decided to engage in craft apprenticeship.

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Paper long abstract:

Education has both instrumentalist and utilitarian values. For individuals, quality education offers opportunities for personal development through knowledge and skills acquisition besides enjoyment of more freedoms. For societies, socio-economic and political progress are underpinned by the quality and quantity of education their members receive. Indeed Amartya Sen underscores the role of education in development, which he defines as the process of growing out of the shackles of unfreedoms. On the other hand, Paul Romer attributes country-level variations in the levels of development to among other factors, the quality of education received by the nationals of the respective countries. The fact that personal, societal and national development depends on education makes its core value to be a public good to which everyone is entitled. Indeed Article 26 of the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims the right of all persons to education. Articles 28 & 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) obligate the state to guarantee this right. Articles 43 (1) (f) and 53 (1) (b), of Kenya's Constitution place the obligation of providing education as a human right on the state. Against this background it is easy to discern that education is everybody's business. The important question, however, is how "everyone" participates in ensuring that quality education is received by all who need it in the light of the hierarchical systems that deliver it. This paper shares one organization's 11 years' experience of using evidence-based community, public and policy engagement and advocacy, to bridge the information as well as policy-practice gaps among the key actors in promoting equitable access to quality basic education in Kenya. The paper highlights the challenges, lessons learnt and what the organization sees as the unfinished business if equitable access to quality learning is to be guaranteed for all children in Kenya.

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Paper short abstract:

The case study assess the development of the EMU, employing a mixed methods design. A range of interventions mainly promoted by foreign entities have created a positive impact and transformed the university in the last 40 decades.

Paper long abstract:

The emergency of the Mozambican Higher Education system dates back to the colonial era with the emergency of the General Studies of Mozambique that later become University of Lourenço Marques. Nonetheless, due to political circumstances, the university gained a new designation - Eduardo Mondlane University - and external forces drove its early development. The external support was even reinforced with the global awareness on the importance of the tertiary education for the country's development endeavour. This evaluation study focus, on one hand, on the processes of change and development of the University Eduardo Mondlane. On the other it looked at the effectiveness of a holistic, long-term and participatory approach for institutional development assessment, shortly called PADev. A sample of 100 individuals was purposely selected from a heterogeneous study population comprised of two main groups, the university community and the external stakeholders. A combination of data collection methods was employed which consisted of review of secondary data, key informant interviews, crowd writing and focus group discussion. The study results showed that external interventions have contributed to the occurrence of remarkable changes at Eduardo Mondlane University seen as an institution of higher learning, research and emancipation in many ways. Specifically the various interventions enabled institution's capacity building; curriculum development; development of innovative teaching and learning methodologies; strengthen research capacity, infrastructure and research environment; fostered post-graduate training; and funding. Despite its great dependency of the external support in the last 40 years and its internationalization attempts, the study indicated that the University remained autonomous in its management decisions. Moreover, the PADev experiment of the UEM revealed to be ineffective as the only method for assessing the development of the UEM. Notwithstanding, PADev enabled social interaction among study participants promoting collective learning while sharing factual and experiential knowledge about the institution's context of change, the factors and actors that have contributed for the transformation and development of the Eduardo Mondlane University.

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Paper short abstract:

Based on interviews with teachers, this paper explores how Active Learning Pedagogy was understood and implemented, and what challenges were experienced in Malawi. The paper discusses the need for moving away from a polarised view of pedagogy (direct instruction against Active Learning).

Paper long abstract:

Addressing the learning crisis in low-income contexts remains a major concern. This paper analyses how a Dutch NGO has attempted to implement active learning and teaching pedagogy (ATL) in secondary schools in Malawi to improve learning outcomes. Based on interviews with teachers and headteachers from five schools, the paper seeks to explore how ATL was understood and implemented, and what challenges were experienced from the perspectives of trained and untrained teachers. The findings reveal that ATL was positively viewed by all participants, as it was considered beneficial for improving students' academic performance and skills development. All participants identified some key implementation challenges, including large classes, lack of materials, the use of English, long distance to school and poverty. The paper underscores the need for moving away from a polarised view of pedagogy (direct instruction against ATL) and conceptualising active learning on a continuum.

Paper long abstract:

L'éducation est l'outil nécessaire à tout progrès de la personne et de son context; et davantage dans les zones vulnérables où elle est un élément vital du développement. Les mécanismes d'apprentissage dans la banlieue de Dakar sont structurés de plusieurs manières, y compris à partir de groupes d'étude par pairs. La communication vise à montrer quel est l'impact du capital social et culturel des jeunes du quartier pour lutter contre l'échec et le décrochage scolaire, d'une part, et d'un autre pour améliorer les conditions de leur contexte.

Pour réaliser cette analyse, on part d'un aproche méthodologique qualitative à partir de 32 entretiens à des jeunes qui sont en train d'étudier les dernières cours programme d'éducation de base. À fin de pouvoir détecter une cible la plus hétérogène possible, l'analyse a pris en compte 4 typologies d'établissements qui réunissent les profils éducatifs actuels du pays.

L'analyse a comme but aussi consacrer un point sur la situation de systèmes de rattrapage et révision des cours que les propres jeunes ont créé dans le quartier. Les amicales, groupes de révision et étude sont une source de succès dans un milieu où il n'existe pas des bibliothèques, salles d'études ni aucun espace qui donne de soutien aux jeunes.

Le résultat de cette première analyse nous montre qu'il est extrêmement important de pouvoir intégrer un groupe car il favorise cet apprentissage. Les structures des jeunes vont au-delà du simple étude partagé et leur capacité organisationnel est un facteur déterminant pour l'amélioration individuelle mais aussi pour l'environnement. Ce sont des agents de changement face aux adversités quotidiennes du quartier.

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Paper long abstract:

Abstract

Learner-centred pedagogy (LCP) has become a global pedagogy and has been adopted in sub-Saharan African countries such as Rwanda, despite ample evidence of implementation failure. Most research has examined its implementation at either the primary or the secondary level. However, this qualitative study adopts a comparative approach and seeks to explore how Rwandan primary and secondary school teachers define, perceive and recontextualize LCP. The study is based on interviews and classroom observations of 12 effective teachers working in eight well-performing schools; the analysis draws on Schweisfurth's minimum standards for LCP. The case of Rwanda reveals that the majority of primary and secondary school teachers stimulated open and respectful classroom interactions. However, the recontextualization of constructivism differed substantially between the two groups. Furthermore, the findings highlight the importance of more research into the dynamics between the various standards for LCP, and the interaction of these standards with contextual factors.