Teaching Africa

“A valuable resource [with] useful ideas about how to . . . enhance student engagement with the continent, and expand Africa’s presence within the curriculum.” —Stephen Volz, Kenyon College Teaching Africa introduces innovative strategies for teaching about Africa. The contributors address misperceptions about Africa and Africans, incorporate the latest technologies of teaching and learning, and give practical advice for creating successful lesson plans, classroom activities, and study abroad programs. Teachers in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences will find helpful hints and tips on how to bridge the knowledge gap and motivate understanding of Africa in a globalizing world.

One is always struck by the brilliant work of George Sefa Dei but nothing so far has demonstrated his pedagogical leadership as much as the current project. With a sense of purpose so pure and so thoroughly intellectual, Dei shows why he must be credited with continuing the motivation and action for justice in education. He has produced in this powerful volume, Teaching Africa, the same type of close reasoning that has given him credibility in the anti-racist struggle in education. Sustaining the case for the democratization of education and the revising of the pedagogical method to include Indigenous knowledge are the twin pillars of his style. A key component of this new science of pedagogy is the crusade against any form of hegemonic education where one group of people assumes that they are the masters of everyone else. Whether this happens in South Africa, Canada, United States, India, Iraq, Brazil, or China, Dei’s insights suggest that this hegemony of education in pluralistic and multi-ethnic societies is a false construction. We live pre-eminently in a world of co-cultures, not cultures and sub-cultures, and once we understand this difference, we will have a better approach to education and equity in the human condition.

This book critically examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has stimulated digital innovation within higher education using case studies from Africa. Imagining a future for post-pandemic higher education, it analyses the challenges and opportunities of remote teaching and learning. The book explores the structural barriers around access to higher education and how these were reconfigured and amplified by technology-dependent teaching and learning. Case studies from countries across Africa provide unique insights into the challenges experienced by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining examples of emergent pedagogies such as online, mobile and social media-enhanced teaching, and blended learning. The chapters consider online assessment and teacher professional development, critically examining some of the benefits and structural challenges of digital technology integration in the context of pre-existing education disparities (such as students and teachers living in poverty-stricken and highly unequal societies). Offering invaluable insights into higher education in Africa, the book will be essential reading for researchers, scholars, and students in the fields of higher education study, digital education and educational technology, and African and comparative education. It will also be of interest to higher education managers and policymakers.

Developing Teaching and Learning in Africa is a collection of chapters that carry on the topical discussions on indigenous knowledges and western epistemologies. African societies still aspire towards knowledge that is liberatory, enhance critical thinking and decentre Eurocentrism. The contributors explore these decolonial debates as they navigate ways of moving towards epistemic freedom and cognitive justice.

Teacher education is a known variable that impacts the quality of teaching and schooling, yet while research on practices in teaching and teacher education abound in other contexts, there seems to be no comprehensive reference work on teaching and teacher education in Africa. With Africa and the diaspora boasting rich, diverse political and educational contexts and practices, this gap in knowledge requires that attention be focused on investigating issues that shape the pace, course, and direction of teaching and teacher education in these contexts. Practices and Perspectives of Teaching and Teacher Education in Africa facilitates scholarly discussions among scholars and practitioners about practices, innovations, and future possibilities for educating the next generation of competent students and teachers in Africa. Covering topics such as educational reforms, equity, career progression, and curriculum development, this major reference work is ideal for administrators, industry professionals, researchers, academicians, scholars, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Teaching English in Africa is a practical guide written for primary and secondary school teachers working all over the continent. This book relates the practice of English language teaching directly to the African context. As well as covering the underlying theory of how children learn languages and how teachers can best facilitate this learning, it also provides practical resources and ideas for activities and techniques that have proved successful in English classrooms in Africa, both at primary and secondary level. It is intended to be a practical guide, so references and citations are kept to a minimum and concepts are presented using examples that are likely to be familiar to most teachers working in Africa. If there is a bias in this book, it is towards the needs of teachers working in low-resource, isolated contexts in Africa, as these teachers are so often neglected by literature on teaching methodology.

The book is the result of a five-year project that culminated (within the first three years) in doctoral research interrogating language competency for meaningful mathematics instruction at upper primary level conducted at University of Stellenbosch in 2017; and this book in the succeeding two years. The initial research project received countrywide coverage in several South African media outlets including Times Live and Radio 2000.

The book represents a crop of wide-ranging research conducted by renown scholars in sub-Sahara Africa revolving around mathematics teaching and professional development programs for mathematics teachers. The research-based proposals and actual how-to-conduct professional development initiatives that enhance effective mathematics instruction are rooted in teacher input and informed by learners’ errors and misconceptions. The book provides a comprehensive snapshot on mathematics teaching, learning and effective professional development programmes for mathematics teachers in sub-Sahara Africa. It is the only research output that advances and disseminates issues of mathematics education and research in the region with input from South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia, Lesotho, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.