An endless desert walk: Perspectives of education from the San in Botswana

The introduction of the UK Coaching Certificate (UKCC) in 2004 treated professionalisation of sport coaching as a linear process. This neglected the social, messy reality of the coaching process and overlooked the subtle cultural differences between sports. Consequently, the UKCC was not as effective as first hoped and has now become more of a reference point than active policy. It has been criticised for deskilling coaches through indoctrination, for being decontextualised from the complex nature of coaching, and for covering irrelevant topics. The result is a dominant narrative that claims formal coach education is under-resourced, lacks leadership, direction and quality assurance. This leaves coaches perceiving their formal educational experiences as less helpful in practice, compared to less structured learning opportunities. This research applied Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model of human development as a theoretical framework to sport coaching for the first time. Embedded in the interpretivist paradigm, this research employed Blumer’s (1969) symbolic interactionism as a methodological framework. The result was an exploration of the learning ecologies of sport coaches, from the macro to the micro. This piece of work studied the political, socio-, economic-, cultural and historical backdrop (the macrosystem) to the development, implementation and delivery of British Cycling’s formal coach education provision (the exosystem). This research gave the National Governing Body a platform to tell the untold story of developing formal coach education programmes. This highlighted how the controls were not in place to support, or ensure, the standardisation that UKCC promised. In this way, British Cycling were powerless to the implemented national policy, powerless to a national drive to improve elite sport at an international level and sold a dream. Transitioning away from UKCC-endorsed programmes is seen as a backward step as there is currently no suitable framework to replace the UKCC. Formal education is important to professionalising the coaching workforce as it controls the dissemination of knowledge and establishes entry routes to the coaching role through the delivery and regulation of formal qualifications. This regulates the recruitment of coaches and standardises the delivery and expectations of practitioners. This presents National Governing Bodies with a dilemma. Many researchers have made idealistic prescriptions for coaching, but there is a need to develop pertinent frameworks that can improve learning and practice within different populations and maintain trainees’ motivations and engagement with their formal education experiences. Although formal coach education has attracted the attention of numerous scholars, there is a dearth of studies that have attempted to directly investigate, or evaluate, a coach education programme. Research investigating coach learning is yet to provide specific, structured, evidence-based suggestions that coaches can use to enhance their learning and effectiveness. It appears that the relative success of coach education starts with the individual’s past experiences and networks of existing knowledge, beliefs and values. Crucially, this means that the same coach education opportunity has a different impact on different individuals, depending on each individual’s unique starting point. As such, finding ways to deliver formal education in ways that more effectively takes into account trainees’ biographies might increase the effectiveness of formal education and trainees’ engagement with these programmes. This research identified three ‘types’ of coaches attending British Cycling’s formal education – three narratives: performance, discovery and relational. Employing a micro-ethnography methodology over fifteen months, this work gained a deeper understanding of eight individuals’ insight and experiences of attending British Cycling’s formal education (the mesosystem). Then, by capturing participants’ experiences of coaching as they entered their coaching contexts following their formal education (their microsystem), this PhD explored how effectively British Cycling’s formal education prepared participants for their role as qualified coaches. In addition, this data captured coaches learning within their everyday context. These findings, for the first time, align trainee coaches to different narrative types. Each narrative experienced formal coach education differently, each valuing different mechanisms and outcomes. Further, each narrative type constructed different learning ecologies distinct to their narrative. It is proposed that these findings offer a ‘soft start’ to informing British Cycling’s delivery of their formal education as they move towards more holistic, personalised models of formal sport coach education. Of course, it is likely that more narratives are identifiable and that coaches can transition from one narrative type to another during the course of their coaching career. Therefore, it is recommended that future research applies Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model of human development to different sports, across more diverse sample sizes.

Early Marriage and Its Effects on Girls' Education in Rural Ethiopia: The Case of Mecha Woreda in West Gojjam, North-Western Ethiopia

This article traces the development of moral education (ME) in Botswana from pre‐colonial times to the present day. It shows how during this time ME has undergone three distinct phases of development, each emphasising a particular ideology. In pre‐colonial times ME was offered as part of indigenous education in the home and community, both formally and informally, directly and indirectly. During the missionary/colonial period (1870s–1966) and in the first three decades of Botswana’s independence (1967–1998), ME was taught in the formal school curriculum as an aspect of religious education. During this period religious education was confessional, using Christian moral values as a yardstick in exploring the material content of the syllabus. Since the national educational reforms of the 1990s, ME has undergone a paradigm shift, whereby it has become disengaged from religious education and secularised as a stand‐alone subject in the junior secondary curriculum. This paper examines each of these three phases of development, and concludes by offering an assessment of the efficacy of the current phase, given the religiosity of Botswana as a country and the consequences of previous teacher training with ME having been located within religious education.

Out of School Education and Training (OSET) launched in New Xade – the largest settlement for San in Botswana – in 2007. It is geared towards training children who dropped out of formal education. The present study aimed to describe the impacts of modern education among the Gǀui and Gǁana by comparing the practice of formal schooling and OSET. We conducted semi-structured interviews with school-aged children who dropped out of formal school, as well as with teachers from both the primary school and OSET. The interviews focused on the lives of school-aged children inside and outside of educational facilities. Children were asked about their reasons for dropping out of primary school, their perspectives on the activities at OSET and their expectations about their futures. Teachers were asked about their educational experiences, their assessments of child education and their expectations about their futures. We found that non-formal education such as OSET can provide opportunities for self-development for children who dropped out of formal education. Further, unemployed youth who had achieved secondary school qualifications found employment at OSET as teachers, thus increasing their self-reliance. Because the present research sheds light on previously unknown issues surrounding the education of Gǀui and Gǁana, it stands to contribute to the improvement of basic education policy in Botswana.

Background:Every year, about 50,000 people die of rabies of which about 55% of the mortalities occur in Asia and over 40% in Africa. Children are victims of up to 50% of these mortalities. The figure is alarming and immediate action is required to stop this scourge.Aim:This study was carried out to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice about rabies among children attending primary schools located in the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) premises and those outside the university as well as those receiving informal education.Method:The participants for this study were children drawn by random selection from the schools chosen by purposive sampling. With the aid of questionnaires, information was obtained from a total of 477 children with 400 from formal educational settings among 3 schools, and 77 from quaranic schools (almajiris) in the informal setting.Results:There was an association between parents’ occupation and type of school children were attending (p<0.05)More children receiving formal education were aware about the disease (50.8%) than those receiving informal education (32.5%), likewise those residing within ABU quarters (71%) were better informed than those residing outside ABU quarters (43.3%). Among children in the formal schools, 25.9% obtained information from friends and at school (25.9%), while in the informal setting, 56% obtained information from friends and only 16% from school. With regards to attitude and practice, 75.5% of children receiving formal education came from homes where dogs were vaccinated against rabies and and 23.3% of them play with dogs they know, while 11.1% of those receiving informal education vaccinate their dogs and fewer of them (14.3%) play with dogs known to them. There was however no association between the type of school and whether or not they play with dogs (p>0.05). Many children (65.7%) of those in formal schools know the role of dogs in rabies transmission, compared to only 8% in the informal schools. However, only 9.7% of children in formal schools associate both signs of furious and dumb form of rabies with the disease, compared with 28% in informal schools. Among children bitten by dogs, 87.5% of those receiving informal education received hospital treatment compared to 63.7% of those going to formal schools. About 13% in each of the two categories received traditional treatment. It is, therefore, important for children to be properly educated about rabies so that they can avoid dogs, recognise potential exposures, report to a responsible adult and pass on the knowledge to their peers.

This research explores the balance between formal and informal education in Butuh Village, Kalikajar, Wonosobo, focusing on children's interest in religious education compared to formal education. Using a qualitative approach with participatory observation and Focus Group Discussions (FGD), this study involved village government, community organizations, educators, community leaders, and Community Learning Centers (PKBM) as informants. The findings indicate a high interest among children in religious education, strong parental and community roles, and challenges in developing formal education, such as limited facilities. Based on the FGD results, programs are proposed for integrating religious values into the formal curriculum, enhancing the role of parents and the community, developing educational infrastructure, and empowering teachers. This research underscores the importance of involving all educational stakeholders in creating sustainable solutions to improve education quality and comprehensively optimize children's potential. Keywords. Formal Education, Informal Education, Religious Education

How can schools as they currently exist serve the needs of the sexes during an era of changing sex-role sensibility? Addressing this question, the authors propose that the construct of sex role is better conceptualized in cultural than in psychosocial terms. This allows for a more coherent analysis of the interactions of three cultural phenomena: formal schooling, femininity, and masculinity. The concept of sex-role culture is rotated through three models of cultural interaction:Genetic Differences, Cultural Differences, and Biculturalism. Each model contributes to an understanding of the systemic relationship between sex-role culture and educational practice. The authors argue first, that from an educational perspective, sex-linked genetic differences are largely irrelevant, second, that sex-linked cultural differences are real, but unstable and situational, and finally, that bicultural blendings are beneficial and increasingly prevalent. The school's task is to provide children with equal access to traditionally sex-typed educational and cultural resources. Increasing biculturalism can occur only through intervention into the hidden curriculum which includes teacher pupil-role expectations,teacher modeling and the distribution of classroom space and materials.

The choice of Arab-Islamic education in sub-Saharan Africa: Findings from a comparative study

The present study focused to identify strategies to enroll out of school children in Cholistan through non formal education. Role of non formal education in Cholistan was measured through initiatives taken by non formal educational institutions as well as on the basis of achievements in present scenario of non formal education. The population of the study comprised on non formal setup of Cholistan. Teachers and field members were selected through census sampling while members of school councils and parents were selected through convenient sampling. A questionnaire consisting on quantitative as well as qualitative data was developed. The obtained data was analyzed through (SPSS) version 20 and thematic analysis. It was found that majority of respondents pointed different modes of non formal education working with different strategies. Most of the respondents also expressed the current scenario of non formal education, role of community in functioning of non formal schools and drawbacks of non formal education in Cholistan. It was suggested that number of non formal schools should be increased with all basic facilities. Government should take steps to facilitate parents to enroll out of school children. National and international stakeholders must focus on the projects of non formal education in Cholistan and quality of education.

Introduction. Multicultural Education: Problems and Issues G K Verma and C Bagley. Part 1: Race Relations, Cultural Differences and Ethnocentrism. 1. Race Relations and Cultural Differences: Some Ideas on a Racial Frame of Reference Peter M E Figueroa. 2. Toward An Explanation of Ethnocentrism Versus Ethnorelativism Based Upon Reference Group Orientation. James C Mayer. 3. Toward a Typology of Stranger-Host Relationships. William B Gudykunst. Part 2: Language, Education and Minority Groups. 4. Multiculturalism and Education: Prelude to Practice. Gajendra K Verma. 5. Education, Language and Ethnic Groups in Britain. Olav A Rees. 6. Language, Disadvantage and Minority Education. John Edwards. 7. The Education of Children of Immigrant Groups: A Comparative Perspective of Britain, France, The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Arpi Hamalian and Joti Bhatnagar. 8. Using a Multicultural Context as a Basis for a Core Curriculum: Cultural Difference as Educational Capital. James Lynch. 9. Children's Books and Ethnic Minorities. Gajendra K Verma and Kanka Mallick. 10. Second Languages in the Primary School: The Australian Experience Barbara McLean. Part 3: Minority Group Children in Multicultural Contexts. 11. Cultural Diversity, Migration and Congnitive Styles: A Study of British, Japanese, Jamaican and Indian Children Christopher Bagley. 12. The Welfare, Adaptation and Identity of Children from Intercultural Marriage Christopher Bagley & Loretta Young. 13. Native Indian and Metis Children in Canada: Victims of the Child Welfare System. Bradford Morse. 14. A Matched-Guise Methodology for Measuring Attitudes Toward Sign-Language Speakers R Bruce Anderson and Robert Benford. Indices.

The anthropology of education (also known as educational anthropology, pedagogical anthropology, ethnography of education, and educational ethnography) is a broad area of interest with roots and continuing connections in several major disciplines, including anthropology, linguistics, sociology, psychology, and philosophy, as well as the field of education. It emerged as a named subdiscipline in the 1950s primarily in the United States through the work of George and Louise Spindler, Margaret Mead, and others. However, work of a related nature was also taking place around the same time in Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, and Britain. While research in the anthropology of education is extremely diverse, a few central aims can be articulated. One is to build our understanding of how people teach and learn and what they teach and learn across different community, cultural, national, and regional contexts. Through comparisons of educative processes, scholars often draw insights about how culture shapes educational processes, how culture is acquired by individuals and groups through such processes, as well as how people create changes in and through their educational environments. A basic premise is that formal schooling is implicated in a paradoxical relationship with social inequality. While formal education can lead to greater social justice, it can also contribute to the creation and widening of social inequality. Thus, another key aim is to describe, uncover, and expose educational processes that undermine as well as enhance greater social equality. Formal education is not the only focus; studies of informal learning in families and communities provide rich descriptions of everyday contexts in which young people develop the skills and knowledge to be productive members of their community. Often such descriptions stand in stark contrast to the formal educational system where the same learners may be perceived as deficient. Since the 1990s, the anthropology of education has witnessed a number of shifts, including a movement toward research that takes an activist and engaged stance (e.g., research that includes a goal of changing oppressive conditions by collaborating directly with stakeholders such as youth and parents). This movement entails accompanying changes in methodologies, expanding beyond primarily descriptive ethnography to include methods such as participatory action research, teacher research, policy research, and critical ethnography. A more international and less US-centric perspective is also emerging as scholars around the world recognize the importance of studying both formal and informal education through ethnographic and other qualitative methods. The field is enriched as scholars around the world contribute new perspectives forged in regions with different historical and political environments. One of the key questions asked in early 21st-century educational anthropology is, under what circumstances can formal education be a force for change to create more egalitarian and inclusive societies?

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted socio-economic activities, including formal and non-formal education, across the world at lightning speed. By mid-April 2020, it had interrupted the formal education of nearly 1.6 billion students in 192 countries. COVID-19’s disruption of education in Africa, and especially in southern Africa, has been severe for several reasons. However, educational responses to COVID-19 suggest that it has stimulated the appetite for developing educational innovations – silver linings to the COVID-19 cloud.This paper is based on interviews conducted with 56 parents, students and educators involved in formal and non-formal education in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We identified the main educational challenges in these countries as being concerned with adapting to: (i) online education and learning, (ii) continuity of education from home, and (iii) community-based learning in small groups. The silver linings that we identified are: (i) putting greater emphasis on finding context-specific solutions to education and health problems (improvisation), which is important for educational relevance and reveals the value of local actors, (ii) making linkages between social and ecological systems clearer, which is making the value of education for sustainable development (ESD) in this century more explicit, and (iii) revealing structural inequality and justice issues in education, which draws attention to the need for urgently addressing them as part of transformative change in education and sustainable development.

The indigenous San of Botswana have undergone far-reaching socio-cultural and economic transformations in a negative and alienating environment that renders them a marginalized and subjugated people. They are also subjected to a formal education that demeans and devalues their indigenous epistemologies, whilst privileging those of the hegemonic Batswana (people of Botswana). This has caused cultural disorientation and negative self-perception amongst the San. Interestingly, not so long ago the hegemonic Batswana were also assimilated into alienating colonial epistemologies, whilst their traditional forms of education and livelihoods were submerged, devalued and alienated. This resulted in far-reaching disruptive transformations that reverberate through post-colonial society. Using the notion of “othering”, this paper juxtaposes the colonial education of the hegemonic Batswana with that of the indigenous San as the basis for the formulation of effective empowering and enabling policies, programmes and strategies to ameliorate the educational challenges facing the San.

Some pesantrens have accommodated the madrasah or formal school education programs, both the curriculum and the learning methods. One of them is pesantren Attahdzib. This article aimed to describe, analyze, and interpret the ontology of Attahdzib Islamic boarding school curriculum, the process of implementing the curriculum, and the problems of its implementation. It was a qualitative research with descriptive analysis. The results showed that the the curriculum was implemented through some methods such as sorogan, bandongan or wetonan, and memorization. There were 2 types of education systems established in pesantren Attahdzib, namely diniyah education, and formal education. The problems faced in the implementation of curriculum were some teachers’ disciplinary problem, the learning evaluation that sometimes considered hard and burden on students, and the formal schools’ extra-activities that sometimes obstructed the pesantren’s teaching and learning process.

Education for all (EFA) and the ‘African Indigenous Knowledge Systems (AIKS)’: The case of the Chewa people of Zambia