Transforming the educational experiences of marginalized students in Ghana through dialogic literary gatherings

Abstract

Discrimination and educational inequalities continually affect lifelong learning opportunities among marginalized groups in the 21st century. In Ghana and many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, children from rural and urban poor communities, ethnic and linguistic minorities and those in displaced situations have experienced discrimination and marginalization in education for decades. However, few studies propose ways marginalized students in Ghana can transform their experiences in school. This paper explores how participating in a dialogue-based intervention named Dialogic Literary Gatherings (DLGs) transformed the educational experiences of marginalized students. An ethnographic-case study was conducted with 8th-grade students in a compulsory school in Southeastern Ghana. Focusing on the personal accounts of seven students, our findings show that the DLGs created affordances for marginalized students to engage in egalitarian dialogue, share their grievances while transforming relationships and attitudes with their peers and boost participants’ self-confidence, eventually transforming their educational experiences. This is relevant for practitioners and stakeholders seeking innovative strategies that potentially transform discriminated and marginalized students’ experiences and potentially keep them in school.