Curriculum In Africa Research Articles

Effect of HIV/AIDS on labour productivity and the moderating role of literacy rate: A panel study of Africa and its sub-regions.

This study examined the effect of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) on labour productivity in Africa and its sub-regions while controlling for the moderating effect of literacy rate. The study used the system Generalised Method of Moment estimation technique and annual panel data from 2010 to 2020 for 53 African economies. Labour productivity and literacy rate were measured by the ratio of gross domestic product to total employment and gross secondary school enrolment respectively. The results indicate that HIV/AIDS retards labour productivity, and that literacy rate can ease this depressing effect of HIV/AIDS in Africa. The sub-regional differences in Africa obtained in this study revealed that the depressing effect of HIV/AIDS on labour productivity is highest in Southern Africa and lowest in Northern and Central Africa. Interestingly, the study also established that per capita health expenditure, per capita income, gross capital formation, and information and communications technology are important drivers of labour productivity in Africa. The study, therefore, concludes that there is need for governments and other stakeholders to help to increase school enrolment and improve the quality of the content of education curriculum in Africa to increase the awareness of HIV/AIDS, especially as it relates to its channels of transmission like unprofessional blood transfusion, unprotected sexual activity, and genital mutilation, among others.

An indigenized framework for game design curriculum for African Universities

The aim of this paper is to reposition game design studies curriculum in Africa by modelling the African Ubuntu philosophy. This study utilized an inductive content analysis via transformative paradigm to identify relevant tenants that contribute to this conceptual paper. Furthermore, thematic approach was utilized to organize the are identified points int categories and subcategories. The utilization and introduction of the African ubuntu philosophy to game design curriculum follows 9 vital stages will be actualized. Researchers are motivated to conduct empirical and qualitative experiments on the African ubuntu philosophy for indigenized game curriculum. Utilizing indigenization as the game design curriculum will increase enrolment, programs easily accessible and help African content become global, as well as help African economies to grow. An indigenized policy will help many local talents and grow the south African economy.

African epistemologies and the decolonial curriculum

In this article we argue that a discussion on African epistemologies must precede the quest for both the decolonisation of knowledge and curriculum in Africa. Decolonial thought in Africa is significant because it focuses, among other things, on the decolonisation of Western epistemological supremacy within the space where knowledge is produced and transferred. We contend that knowledge acquired through the process of learning must resonate with people’s lived experiences and realities. To meaningfully pursue that involves placing in focus people’s modes of thought and epistemic ideas, in the interpretation of their experiences and the realities around them. This article argues that designing a decolonised curriculum that centres unique African intellectual ideas should be informed by the understanding of African epistemologies, whose principle of epistemic validation is grounded on the idea of interconnectedness in African thought. Considering a decolonial curriculum as an attempt in pursuing ‘centring’ is to align curricula with the modes of knowledge validation in African thought.

Curriculum reform in African higher education: solving society’s problems and meeting its needs

Higher education is often regarded as a crucial driver of development in Africa. Notably, the curricula in African higher education institutions are central to the discourse of development and the production of graduates who are sufficiently critical to challenge the historical, political, economic and social status quo in Africa. Curriculum experts in Africa have called for revisiting the purpose and the content of higher education curricula in Africa, and embracing an indigenous knowledge system that not only brings about development in nations themselves or the continent as a whole, but which also enhances human capacity. This paper argues that it is important for higher education institutions to embrace a curriculum that is synchronised to the particularities of African societies. One way to achieve this is by reforming the curriculum to reflect the realities and needs of the African continent, rather than providing a mere replica of the Western model. This paper also argues that curriculum reform is inevitable if the university is to fulfil this important role. This paper aims to answer the pertinent question; In what ways are Africa’s higher education curricula solving societal problems and meeting societal needs? This paper is guided by the theory of critical pedagogy developed by Paulo Freire and is developed through a review of the literature. The findings show that curriculum reform that promotes indigenous knowledge systems in Africa is imperative for meeting some of the needs of the African continent.

Paradigms for Contextualizing Competency Based Curriculum in Africa: Inferences from the OECD Countries

Paradigms for Contextualizing Competency Based Curriculum in Africa: Inferences from the OECD Countries

Planetary health and environmental sustainability in African health professions education.

CliMigHealth and the Education for Sustainable Healthcare (ESH) Special Interest Group of the Southern African Association of Health Educationalists (SAAHE) call for the urgent integration of planetary health (PH) and environmental sustainability into health professions curricula in Africa. Education on PH and sustainable healthcare develops much-needed health worker agency to address the connections between healthcare and PH. Faculties are urged to develop their own 'net zero' plans and to advocate for national and sub-national policies and practices that promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and PH. National education bodies and health professional societies are urged to incentivise innovation in ESH and to provide discussion forums and resources to support the integration of PH into curricula.Contribution: This article provides a position statement for integrating planetary health and environmental sustainability into African health professions education curricula.

‘The unofficial curriculum is where the real teaching takes place’: faculty experiences of decolonising the curriculum in Africa

This paper analyses faculty experiences tackling global knowledge asymmetries by examining the decolonisation of higher education in Africa in the aftermath of the 2015 ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ student uprising. An overview of the literature reveals a rich debate on defining ‘decolonisation’, starting from a critique of Eurocentrism to propositions of alternate epistemologies. These debates are dominated by the Global North and South Africa and their experiences of curriculum reform. Our focus is on the experiences of political scientists in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. These countries share the same Anglophone political science traditions but represent different political trajectories that constitute a significant condition for the discipline. The 26 political scientists we interviewed acted toward increasing local content and perspectives in their teaching, as promoted in the official strategies of the universities. They noted that what was happening in lecture halls was most important. The academic decolonisation debate appeared overambitious or even as patronising to them in their own political context. National politics affected the thematic focus of the discipline both as far as research topics and students’ employment opportunities were concerned. Although university bureaucracies were slow to respond to proposed curricula changes, new programmes were approved if there was a market-based demand for them. International programs tended to be approved fastest. Political economy of higher education plays a role: dependency on foreign funding, limited national resources to conduct research and produce publications vis-à-vis international competition, and national quality assurance standards appeared to be most critical constraints for decolonising the curriculum.

Main Trends of History Teaching in Africa From a Postcolonial Perspective

History education has always been a highly contested terrain especially in contexts whose pasts are marred by huge controversial, sensitive and emotive moments. This reality is more significant in the African continent, where issues such as slavery, colonisation, decolonisation, the partition of Africa; border crises; complexity of identity; race; apartheid, wars, xenophobia; chauvinism; military coups, forced evictions and subsequent land reclamations, are some of the key themes and discourses that are characteristic of its history. This experiential reflection and theoretical paper draw from the researcher’s personal experiences as a history teacher/lecturer in at least three African countries and from literature to reflect on the main trends of History teaching and learning in Africa. Although there has been a wave of curricular decolonisation in Africa at the turn of the century, including in History teaching, the article argues that there is still a lot of reasons to be concerned about the state of history teaching as a subject. The article acknowledges an existential and humane need for a reconstruction, decolonisation and Africanisation of the history curriculum in Africa by means of postcolonial socio-cultural and epistemic systems and practices that reclaim indigenous African voices in curriculum knowledge. The article recommends that history teaching and curriculum in postcolonial Africa need to move away from discrete and sometimes overt, heroic, one-dimensional and neatly packaged master narratives that deny students the opportunity to critically engage and interrogate the rich and complex histories as a pathway to improve the relevance of the subject in the continent.

The first step is the hardest: conceptualization of digital records curatorship in the information science curriculum at the University of Eswatini

The conceptualization of digital records curatorship in the archives curriculum in Africa is gaining momentum as scholars engage on the subject. This was accelerated by the development of the workshop on digital curatorship by the International Council on Archives as part of the implementation of the education leg of the African strategy. This paper reports on the journey towards the customization of digital curatorship module in the information science curriculum at the University of Eswatini. The reporting in the paper was mostly informed by the experience from the involvement of the authors in the project.The paper provides a rationale for integrating the workshop in the curriculum of information science at the University of Eswatini. To conceptualize the digital curatorship module in the curriculum, the authors used a conceptual framework scheme by Jacobs which is linked to the theories of Bernstein in terms of vertical and horizontal knowledge. It is concluded that the University of Eswatini still has a long way to go in the development and implementation of a fully-fledged programme in archives and records management. However, the hardest first step taken by the University of Eswatini is acknowledged as a step in the right direction for development of archival curriculum.

The Itinerant Curriculum as an Alternative Pathway for Responsiveness in African Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, and it has serious implications for education globally. The educational curricula used in the first, second, and third industrial revolutions may not necessarily be useful in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), as societal and organisational demands have changed. Curricula in African higher education needs therefore to adapt to the changing demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, or else students may be unprepared for the demands of future organisations and the society. Therefore, to enhance the responsiveness of the curriculum in Africa, this paper examines the itinerant curriculum as an alternative pathway to other highlighted curricula in the literature. The study posits how the itinerant curriculum can be used to achieve curriculum responsiveness, economically, culturally, disciplinarily, and in learning. The study concludes that the itinerant curriculum is an important tool that can help African higher education achieve curriculum responsiveness in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

An Agenda for Decolonising Law in Africa: Conceptualising the Curriculum

Decolonisation as a theory focus on challenging the colonial imperialist perspectives on Africa and Africans. It seeks to debunk hegemonic discourses on Africa by continually opposing and resisting those notions that cast Africans as primitive and backward.[1] Law permeates all realms of social behaviour; law is also a tool of social engineering. It is also a truism that society needs law to solve the problem of social order by protecting certain human interests.[2] Law in Africa has followed the standard and structure of the colonising powers (English, French, Spanish and Portugese) to the detriment of indigenous laws; though some African countries notably the English Speaking operate Legal Pluralism in order to include customary law. The decolonisation thesis is to jettison all that is colonial in the legal system; this idea may be laudable in principle. However, because Africa is bewildering in size with different cultures, language and political system, how will the curriculum be conceptualised. This paper therefore is an inquiry into conceptualising the Law in Africa curriculum, this becomes very necessary because it is a methodology against the experiences of insurgency against white hegemonic knowledge, social and intellectual domination.

Perceptions of Academics on Real Estate Topics in Africa

Abstract This paper presents the perceptions of academics on real estate topics offered in Bachelors Real Estate (BRE) curricula in Africa. In order to understand the perceptions of academics on real estate topics, a survey of seven selected BRE curricula offered in different regions of Africa was conducted to determine important real estate topics academics included in the curricula. After analyzing the curricula, sorting and re-grouping the topics: Real estate management, Real estate valuation, Real estate economics, Real estate finance and investment, Real estate development, Real estate law, Real estate planning, Real estate research, Real estate industrial training and Real estate electives emerged to be important topics the academics considered to include in the curricula. The topics are in line with those expected in a real estate curriculum. In addition, results revealed that BRE curricula follow the interdisciplinary approach to real estate education. Findings will encourage universities in Africa and elsewhere to develop comprehensive real estate curricula or improve existing ones to accommodate the interdisciplinary approach and the international perspective of real estate education because of their benefits. The study will also support the harmonization of real estate education, practice, investment and business in Africa, hence contributing towards the economic development of the continent.

Why Decolonization of the Knowledge Curriculum in Africa?

In some parts of Africa, especially South Africa, discussions of decolonization in general, and of the knowledge curriculum in particular, have in the last few years been on the front burner. In this article, I examine two issues that are germane to these discussions. The first relates to what decolonizing the knowledge curriculum means or is involved with and the second relates to its significance and the motivations for it. At the end of my examination of these issues, I will have presented some picture of a general outline of a decolonized knowledge system in Africa, as well as broached a couple of the issues relating to the importance of a decolonized knowledge system.

Deterritorialising to Reterritorialising the Curriculum Discourse in African Higher Education in the Era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us, and it comes with implications for the higher education curriculum and organisations within Africa. Technology that was ubiquitous in previous decades, is now becoming obsolete. Artificial intelligence and digitization, which are features of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are now the order of the day. Organisations are moving with such technological advancement by adopting newly created technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Without doubt, the currently used curriculum in Africa is obsolete; and does not capture the changes being ushered in by the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Therefore, the higher education curriculum must be responsive to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as this will prepare students in Africa for the challenge ahead. This study theorises on, and has concluded, that deterritorialization and reterritorialization are useful in making the African higher education responsive to the curriculum. The study recommends the introduction of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education into the African higher-education curriculum in Africa. STEM will produce students who are technically savvy, helping students in Africa to acquire the needed skills to perform seamlessly in organisations operating within the Fourth Industrial Revolution era.

Attaining epistemic justice through transformation and decolonisation of education curriculum in Africa

ABSTRACTIn this paper, I explore the position that the transformation and decolonisation of the education curriculum in Africa constitute a way of attaining epistemic justice. Drawing on Miranda Fricker’s seminal work, epistemic justice is understood as partly residing in the genuine acknowledgement and acceptance of the contribution of the indigenous people of Africa to knowledge generation, and involves the significant presence of their knowledge paradigms in the formal education curriculum presently dominated by Western knowledge paradigms. I present the argument that epistemic justice ought to surpass this parameter and lead to the awakening of the agency of learners, such that they contribute meaningfully to the determination of their own destiny in life. This dimension has been largely neglected, as defenders of decolonisation through transformation are often preoccupied with attaining epistemic justice, that is, recognition and acceptance of the epistemological paradigm of the indigenous people of Africa as one among knowledges that ought to inform the education curriculum in Africa. I propose here that the problem that education suffers in Africa surpasses the problem of exclusion of the indigenous people’s knowledge paradigms, to include, most importantly, how such knowledge paradigms could be of use in responding to their prevailing circumstances.

Using the School Environmental Education Programme (SEEP) to Decolonise the Curriculum: Lessons from Ufasimba Primary School in South Africa

The topic of decolonisation has become a contested terrain because of the curriculum challenges facing education systems in Africa, particularly South Africa. To address these challenges, many scholars have underscored the importance of using socio-culturally relevant curricula in Africa. This article is divided into two sections. First, it explores challenges facing education systems in Africa and how decolonisation and socio-culturally relevant curricula, resources, and teacher training can provide answers to those challenges. Then the article explains how Ufasimba Primary School emerged as a school where the School Environmental Education Programme (SEEP) was used to decolonise the curriculum. The challenge, however, was that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) in the KwaZulu- Natal province in South Africa had not made it mandatory for schools to implement the SEEP. This study recommends that the integration of the SEEP into the curriculum should be mandatory at primary education level. A qualitative approach and a grounded theory method, underpinned by the social constructivist paradigm, were used for this study. Data collection methods included semi-structured interviews and the observation method. The basic principles of grounded theory and the NVivo software program assisted in the data analysis for this study.

African Philosophy and the Challenge from Hegemonic Philosophy

The position defended in this article is that African philosophy has the potential to grow into a philosophy that could eventually attain a significant place in the philosophy curriculum in Africa. This could be attained if those who are genuinely concerned with its present demotion to an inferior philosophy also actively participate in its development and dissemination. This is an admission that there might be something wrong with the way African philosophy has been received and treated in the academy even in present times. This is a difficult position whereby some indigenous people of Africa and others consider African philosophy to be somewhat inferior to Western philosophy. One might be tempted to think that since most of the people who end up studying and writing on African philosophy would have been, first and foremost, initiated into Western philosophy, the temptation might be to judge it using Western categories. The result might be a philosophy which is, by definition, a proxy of Western philosophy. Yet, as argued in the present article, authentic African philosophy ought to grow and flourish within the existential situations and terms of the indigenous people of Africa without appeal to external categories.

Entrepreneurial curriculum in African universities: A panacea to graduates’ unemployment if?

Background: University education is a prerequisite for the production of highly competent experts which, in turn, contributes to economic growth and national development at large. For these to be achieved, the right entrepreneurial (content) curriculum and qualified teachers must be in place to perform this varied function. Aim: Within the framework of human capital and cognitive theories - an eclectic approach - this article examines the nexus between entrepreneurial curriculum in Africa and graduates employability with specific reference to Nigerian universities. To interrogate the issues raised, this article employed descriptive survey design and content analysis. Setting: This study was carried out using qualitative desktop method in deriving data for answering the question. Over 50 literature were consulted and analysed in order to establish the nexus between entrepreneurial curriculum and graduate employability in Africa. Methods: This research employed the descriptive survey method and content analysis with the researchers setting out to illustrate the association that exists between the dependent and independent variables. Results: This article argues that the extent to which entrepreneurship education curriculum inculcates entrepreneurial skills among Nigerian undergraduates, is very poor. Also, the quality of resource persons employed to teach entrepreneurship education in the Nigerian universities appears not to possess the requisite knowledge to impart entrepreneurial spirit in students. Conclusion: It concludes that the university authorities should ensure a ‘fit’ in the recruitment of entrepreneurial education lecturers as well as an adequate provision of teaching and learning aids.

The Intrigue of Peace and War Curriculum in Africa

The stigmatization and differentiation of students on one hand, and the crystallization and solidification of teachers’ political ideologies on the other, are acute in peace education and war curriculum in Africa. Yet the regular school curriculum on peace education is increasingly accentuated as an answer to achieving peace, security, and development—this at a time when African countries are aflame with civil wars, ethnic divide, resource-instigated conflicts, and terrorism, all culminating into grossly horrifying human rights abuses. Barely do we see peace curriculum as a paradox, with competing roles of supporting violence on one hand and peace on the other.

Challenging epistemicide through transformation and Africanisation of the philosophy curriculum in Africa

The position that I defend in this article is that the transformation and Africanisation of the philosophy curriculum in universities in Africa is necessary in order to reverse epistemicide. It is necessary because the present philosophy curriculum in universities in Africa is predominantly Eurocentric in its content. As a result, it curiously excludes the philosophy of the indigenous people of Africa. This status quo calls for a fundamental change of the philosophy curriculum. In advancing the thesis of this article, I seek to critique recent arguments on the transformation and Africanisation of the philosophy curriculum. I note that much of the literature in defence of transformation and Africanisation of the philosophy curriculum contains principally theoretical arguments. I attempt to go further than this and discuss some normative suggestions that can be implemented in order to put this noble idea into practice. I argue that the theoretical call for the Africanisation of the philosophy curriculum on its own is not enough if it is not simultaneously accompanied by clear policies on how that can be put into practice.