Issues in African Education: Sociological Perspectives

by A. Abdi, A. Cleghorn

Overview

This book addresses major sociological issues in sub-Saharan African education today. Its fourteen contributors present a thoroughly African world-view within a sociology of education theoretical framework, allowing the reader to see where that theory is relevant to the African context and where it is not. Several of the chapters bring a much-needed cultural nuance and critical theoretical perspective to the issues at hand. The sixteen chapters thus aim to be of interest internationally, to those who work in such fields as social and political foundations of comparative and international education, and development studies, including university professors, teacher educators, researchers, school teachers, tertiary education students, consultants and policy makers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403970695
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	12/13/2005
Edition description:	2005
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

ALI A.ABDI is Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

AILIE CLEGHORN is Associate Professor in the Department of Education at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Table of Contents

PART I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS Introduction to the Sociology of Education: Theoretical and Conceptual Perspectives; A.A.Abdi & A.Cleghorn African Philosophies of Education: Counter-colonial Criticisms; A.A.Abdi National 'Development' and African Universities: A Theoretical and Socio-political Analysis; K.P.Puplampu PART II: CULTURE, LANGUAGE AND THE CURRICULUM Reclaiming Our Memories: The Education Dilemma in Postcolonial African School Curricula; E.Shizha Surveying Indigenous Knowledge, the Curriculum, and Development in Africa: A Critical Viewpoint; N.Mkosi Language Issues in African School Settings: Problems and Prospects for Literacy for All; A.Cleghorn Cultural Perspectives on Science and Technology Education; M.B.Ogunniyi PART III: GENDER AND EQUALITY ISSUES Women's Education and Social Development in Africa; B.Egbo Achieving Gender Equity in Africa's Institutions of Tertiary Education: Beyond Access and Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Women in Development Approach (WID) and its Discontents; C.Diaw Quandaries, Prospects and Challenges of Nomadic Educational Policy on Women and Girls in Sub-Sahara Africa; L.Usman Narratives from Ghana: Exploring Issues of Difference and Diversity in Education; G.J.Sefa Dei & A.Asgharzadeh PART IV: Education and Change Democratizing Education in Zambia: Social and Historical Analyses; E.Shizha & A.A.Abdi At the Mercy of Informal Learning: Education and Development in Stateless Somalia; A.A.Abdi School Organization and Teacher Education: A Kenyan Case Study; N.Wane The Role of the School in Africa in the 21st Century: Coping with Forces of Change; O.Abagi

Recipe

"This well-crafted anthology provides us with rich material to stretch our thinking, concerning Sociology of Education, beyond the customary Eurocentric framework. It is comprehensive in scope, covering a variety of issues relevant to the educational scene in sub-Saharan Africa. The volume draws on the work of emerging and well established writers who focus on different areas that feature in the educational debate in Africa: inclusive education, school curricula, higher education, gender and equity, colonial and anti-colonial education, and African educational philosophies. It is a boon for scholars engaged not only in sociology of education but also in Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Curriculum Studies, Comparative Education, Social Theory and Philosophy of Education."--Peter Mayo, University of Malta, author of Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education and Liberating Praxis.

Editorial Reviews

"This well-crafted anthology provides us with rich material to stretch our thinking, concerning Sociology of Education, beyond the customary Eurocentric framework. It is comprehensive in scope, covering a variety of issues relevant to the educational scene in sub-Saharan Africa. The volume draws on the work of emerging and well established writers who focus on different areas that feature in the educational debate in Africa: inclusive education, school curricula, higher education, gender and equity, colonial and anti-colonial education, and African educational philosophies. It is a boon for scholars engaged not only in sociology of education but also in Gender Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Curriculum Studies, Comparative Education, Social Theory and Philosophy of Education." - Peter Mayo, University of Malta, author of Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education and Liberating Praxis.

"Issues in African Education takes the standard sociology of education and then offers an African critique. Not in the last thirty years has there been a text that addresses this important topic, and this volume is a most useful addition." - Dr. W. Stephen Howard, Ohio University

From the Publisher